Jackson Hole News

Defense Attacks Evidence

Rape Suspect Bound Over

By Gil Brady, 7-31-07

Suspects "Daniel 'Bonilla' Juarez & Armando Aguilar head for court in June"/By Zac Rosser

JACKSON, Wyo. – One of two foreigners extradited from Mexico in June on charges of rape was bound over Tuesday for possible trial in connection with attacks by four young men on two young women here two summers ago.

Circuit Judge Timothy C. Day found enough evidence Tuesday to transfer the case of Daniel “Bonilla” Juarez to 9th District Court.

Day has barred the pre-trial release of any information likely to identify either alleged victim.

According to court affidavits, Juarez, 21, Armando Aguilar, 25, Federico Lopez of Jackson and Gustavo Zuniga Bonilla of Big Sky, Mont., are accused of conspiring to commit sexual assault after “Aguilar and Juarez began talking about what they could do to a woman.”

The plot was allegedly hatched at a local saloon sometime before bars closed at 2 a.m. on August 21, 2005.

Authorities close to the case have said that witnesses for the prosecution claim Juarez expressed the greatest desire among the four men to find a woman and fulfill the plot.

Last August, Laramie County’s 1st District Judge Peter G. Arnold, who presided over the case, sentenced Lopez, then 19, and Gustavo Bonilla, then 21, to between 3 and 5 years and 4 and 6 years, respectively, for conspiracy to commit third-degree sexual assault.

Arnold gave Lopez a lighter sentence than Gustavo Bonilla because of his greater cooperation with investigators.

The two were convicted for their roles in the first attack on a woman allegedly violated by Juarez on the Town Square when he reportedly shoved his hand into her body after she was pushed to the ground while trying to urinate. Charging documents say the woman’s screams scattered the four men surrounding her, breaking them up into two groups: Juarez/Aguilar and Bonilla/Lopez.

Shortly after that post 2 a.m. incident, police say the second attack occurred about two and a half blocks away from the first.

“(She) got on (the) bike and attempted to pedal away,” Jackson police officer Trevor Aitken testified Tuesday about what a second victim later told investigators. “Two Hispanic males pulled her off the bike and…(into) a dark spot in an alley.”

Aitken said the victim next described how as one man restrained her shoulders and head the other “pulled her pants and underwear down” before forcibly raping her, as she tried to clutch her knees together, then switched places with the other assailant who also allegedly raped her.

Under prosecuting attorney Nicole Krieger’s questioning, Aitken, a certified police Spanish instructor and lead detective on the case, testified that the victim managed to grab one of her shoes and strike at least one of the men. Police say the victim’s blows left cuts and bruises later identified by key witnesses.

Before running off, the victim told investigators Aguilar and Juarez kissed her forehead and said: “Thank you, thank you.”

As they rendezvoused minutes later with Zuniga Bonilla and Lopez at a get-a-way car, a witness claimed in Spanish during a police interview that Juarez and Aguilar “said something about having sex with a woman in an alley” and “abusing” a second woman, Aitken testified.

Public Defender Kent Brown of Afton objected to a question from Krieger calling for an opinion from Aitken regarding a DNA lab report.

Later, Brown got Aitken to testify that following the second reported assault, Juarez and Aguilar returned to Aguilar’s girlfriend’s home before fleeing the country.

Brown also attacked conflicting descriptions given by a victim that contributed to police sketches of Aguilar and Juarez, published in the local press, before challenging DNA evidence allegedly collected off Juarez’s toothbrush seized during a police raid of the home of the defendant’s brother.

“She had a different version of who was wearing what?” Brown asked after a lengthy examination of the reported clothing Aguilar and Juarez wore during their alleged gang rape.

“Either she or the person taking the report was confused,” Aitken, wearing a light-weight beige suit, said.

“Similar descriptions of both of them?” Brown pressed, questioning facial hair discrepancies between the victim’s reportedly “hysterical” initial complaint and calmer clarifications of her attackers’ physical features at least a day after.

“Yes,” Aitken said.

“According to the rules of evidence,” the tall and professorial-looking Brown victoriously declared as his Socratic baritone drowned out Krieger’s objections, “excited utterances are more accurate.”

Sounding as if a leg had just buckled under his witness chair, the 20-something Aitken responded: “In certain circumstances that certainly can be the case.”

His hair now grown out and combed, along with a bushy black moustache, Juarez sat attentively between his interpreters, one for confidential counsel, appearing heavier under his shackles and blue prison jumper than his last court appearance in June.

Clustered less than twenty feet from the defendant and his entourage, three close-knit family members of a victim watched today’s proceeding in rapt silence. That is, until the victim’s mother began sniffling back tears as Aitken retold how her daughter was allegedly kissed on the forehead by her rapists.

“It’s difficult to listen to defense attorneys,” the mother said when asked how the hearing went while exiting the courtroom with her youngest daughter and brother-in-law.

Outside of court the mother said her oldest daughter, the alleged victim, is presently in New York.

Regarding whether part of the defense’s strategy is to suggest that DNA, allegedly collected from Juarez’s seized toothbrush, was contaminated, Brown said outside of court, “At this point I don’t know. We got lots of police reports and lab reports to look at. Discovery is just beginning.”

Aguilar, who has already waived his right to a probable cause hearing on one count of being an accessory before the fact to rape and one count of first-degree sexual assault, is scheduled to be arraigned in District Court here on Aug. 9th at 1:30 p.m.

Juarez’s arraignment has not yet been set.

Juarez is charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault. He and Aguilar face five to 50 years in prison, plus $10,000 in fines, or both, for each charge.

Under Wyoming’s enhanced sentencing guidelines, however, prosecutors are seeking life in prison for both men, pending convictions on all counts for either defendant.

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