November 22nd, 2009
 

365 Gay: News

Suspects in lesbian rape case plead not guilty


(Martinez, California) Three suspects in the alleged gang rape of a lesbian woman pleaded not guilty Thursday and are likely to remain jailed until a judge decides whether there’s enough evidence to put them on trial.

Lawyers for Humberto Hernandez Salvador, 31, Josue Gonzalez, 21, and Darrell Hodges, 16, entered the pleas to charges that include kidnapping, carjacking, gang rape and sodomy in the Dec. 13 attack in Richmond, about 15 miles northeast of San Francisco.

Salvador also was charged with committing a hate crime, and his lawyer said he was also pleaded not guilty to that.

A 15-year-old boy also accused in the attack has been charged as a juvenile in the case, but prosecutors are reviewing whether to charge him as an adult, like they did with Hodges.

Authorities say the woman was taunted for being a lesbian during the 45-minute assault, which started as she was walking to the Richmond apartment she shared with a partner and their 8-year-old daughter. Besides being beaten and sexually assaulted in the street, the woman was forced back into her car and assaulted at an abandoned apartment building where she was left without clothes, according to police.

The case has sparked protests and an outpouring of support for the woman, who turns 29 on Friday and has been too traumatized to go back to her apartment or use her car.

“She got beaten pretty bad and has a major medical situation around that, and she can’t work,” said Tallon Nunez, a Bay Area resident who has been raising money for the woman and acting as her spokeswoman. “Suddenly they are relying on one income that was not that much to start with,”

Salvador, Gonzalez and Hodges remain jailed on bails ranging from $1.9 million and $2.2 million, and are due back in court in March.


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  • TANK Said: January 18th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
    • Get a rope.

  • SteveMD2 Said: January 18th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
    • Ah, yes the perverts who committed this crime were from a Catholic Country. Not only should they go to a cell with the lock welded shut, but those who create the environment that causes these crimes should be held criminally responsible for conspiracy before the fact.

      There is a lot to be said for political correctness. And lets remember that the heirarchy of the church hid the perverts they created with their puritanistic sex ideas for decades. Our jails should be filled with the leaders of these churches, often men wearing dresses.

      Time to put them in the closet of fear.

  • Roger Said: January 16th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
    • Well, what can we expect? This atrocity is the result of the anti-gay hatred coming from politicians and many churches. The ranting of these bigots validates such actions in the eyes of sub human idiots like these guys. The blame is not just on them—it is shared by every person who has preached or advocated bigotry. What does the Reverend Rick have to say about his terrible statements about gay marriage–perhaps an apology when he appears at the inauguration??? WHAT were the new president and his advisors thinking????

  • Mercedes Said: January 16th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
    • Hopefully some lawyers will step forward with Civil suits against these suspects and their families as well. This women will need financial compensation for a life time. It is not enought they serve life sentence…they should pay for her medical care and needs associated with this attack and punitive damages.

  • Morgan Said: January 16th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
    • Hopefully these guys will be facing life in prison, they are too dangerous to be ever allowed on the streets again. Prison for life for these men is the only sure way to protect this woman from them ever harming her again. In older times, male scum like this sexually attacking a woman likely would have been executed.

  • drewski Said: January 16th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
    • I know this will sound reactive and kinda childish. Assuming these pieces of stool are sent to prison, I would like to think they’ll be sodomized over and over, with COs watching and doing nothing to help. Over and over, degraded and used until they bleed. Yeah it’s gross; no, their suffering won’t do anything to help the woman they attacked. It’s that emotional thing of wanting to see some very gory karmic payback. My rational side doesn’t know what would be an appropriate punishment, but my gut sure as hell does.

 
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