Man Accused Of Kidnapping And Raping Jaycee Lee Dugard Expected To Plead Guilty
EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. (CBS13) -- Convicted rapist Phillip Garrido is expected to plead guilty this morning to kidnapping Jaycee Lee Dugard and holding her captive for nearly two decades, but the county district attorney said nothing has been decided.
El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson said he's ready to take both Phillip and Nancy Garrido to trial for kidnapping and raping Dugard, calling them both equally responsible for taking away the life of an 11-year-old young girl for 18 years.
"What these two did was plan and go and snatch an 11-year-old off the street on the way to the bus stop so she could be held as a sex slave," Pierson said. "Both of them were active participants in doing that and our responsibility is to hold them accountable."
Nancy Garrido's attorney, Stephen Tapson, said Phillip Garrido is planning to plead guilty to the majority of the charges against him in exchange for a lesser sentence on Nancy.
Tapson said he will take Nancy's case to trial unless she receives a plea deal of 40 years in prison or less, arguing that a jury will find her not guilty of most of the charges against her.
Phillip Garrido is "the evil principal in all of this," Tapson said. "[Nancy's] not innocent, she knew what she did when she kidnapped Jaycee… but the reason she did was because he asked her to, told her to and she's in love with him."
"I've had jurors do lots of things, strange things," he added.
Pierson said he believes the cases against Phillip and Nancy are strong enough for any jury and "I don't think they will have a lot of difficulty convicting both of them."
Pierson declined to comment further on any possible plea deals until Phillip Garrido appears in court Thursday.
Garrido is scheduled to be in court at 9:00 a.m.
