Two Kalamazoo Men to Stand Trial on First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct Charges in 2015 Case
Last week, two Kalamazoo men, Juan Estaban Paz, 30, and Mario Alexis Rodriguez-Barraca, 31, were bound over to stand trial in the 9th Circuit Court in Kalamazoo County on three counts each of First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on November 9.
It is alleged that Paz and Rodriguez-Barraca raped a then-18-year-old woman in Rodriguez-Barraca's Kalamazoo apartment in 2015. The two men allegedly invited the victim, a prior high school acquaintance of Paz, to the apartment, provided her with marijuana and encouraged her consumption of alcohol, before repeatedly assaulting her, resulting in bodily injury and significant mental anguish. The victim reported the alleged assault in 2015, which was investigated at that time and later referred, by the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, to the Kalamazoo County Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI). The preliminary examination and bind over occurred on November 2.
'Our SAKI units across the State provide essential efforts toward justice for many victims of sexual assault, and I'm grateful for their efforts and our partnership,' said Attorney General Nessel. 'In many cases, justice remains possible even years after an assault, and the Kalamazoo SAKI unit is a leading example of how to bring these cases before a court and jury.'
The defendants face charges only at this stage; any conviction is for the court to decide at trial.
(Source: Michigan Attorney General)
Source: Michigan Attorney General
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Kalamazoo 县法院大楼。MSwierenga 摄，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Kalamazoo County Courthouse. Photo by MSwierenga, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
