Michigan AG: Two Kalamazoo Men to Stand Trial on First-Degree Sexual Assault Charges
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on November 10 that two Kalamazoo men were bound over last week to stand trial in the 9th Circuit Court in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, on three counts each of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Her office also corrected the spelling of one defendant's last name from a prior version of the release.
The defendants are Juan Estaban Paz, 30, and Mario Alexis Rodriguez-Barraza, 31. It is alleged that in 2015 the two raped a then-18-year-old woman in Rodriguez-Barraza's Kalamazoo apartment: the victim, a prior high school acquaintance of Paz, was invited to the apartment, provided marijuana and encouraged to consume alcohol, before being repeatedly assaulted, resulting in bodily injury and significant mental anguish. The victim reported the alleged assault in 2015; the case was investigated at the 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.
Nessel said the state's SAKI units provide essential efforts toward justice for many victims of sexual assault, and called the Kalamazoo unit a leading example. Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney Jeffrey S. Getting said his office is committed to the pursuit of justice on behalf of the victim and every survivor.
Michigan's SAKI was established in 2016 to investigate and prosecute sexual assaults related to previously untested sexual assault evidence kits; the Kalamazoo unit is a collaborative project of the state Attorney General, the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor's Office, and the YWCA of Kalamazoo. Anyone with information about this incident or similar conduct is asked to contact Kalamazoo County SAKI Investigator Nick Bobo at 269-303-8524.
The Attorney General's office noted that a criminal charge is merely an allegation and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
(Source: Michigan Attorney General's Office)
Source: Michigan Attorney General's Office
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Photo: 图：位于 Lansing 的密歇根州总检察长办公室所在地 G. Mennen Williams 州办公大楼入口。PA Uploader 摄，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Entrance to the G. Mennen Williams State Office Building in Lansing, home of the Michigan Attorney General's office. Photo by PA Uploader, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
