The two men convicted of abducting a woman off the streets of San Francisco, beating her as they drove north and raping her in a Sonoma car parking zone have been sentenced Wednesday to life in prison.
Fredi Lopez-Flores and Christian Quintero appeared in handcuffs in a Sonoma County courtroom for sentencing almost two months after a jury discovered them responsible of six counts of sexual assault and violence.
The woman, referred to in court docket solely as Jane Doe, was kidnapped whereas ready for a rideshare in San Francisco’s Mission District.
“It has been four years since it happened and I’m still struggling like it was yesterday,” she stated in an influence assertion learn to Judge Christopher Honigsberg by a sufferer advocate from the District Attorney’s Office.
In a trial lasting 4 weeks, the sufferer took the stand and recounted the early morning of April 14, 2018, when she stated Quintero had punched and choked her in the again of Lopez-Flores’ automobile as they drove to Sonoma. She stated each men took turns raping her in the again of the automobile earlier than abandoning her in a car parking zone.
“I will be unable to dwell a traditional life once more,“ the assertion stated, including that she hoped the court docket would dole out most sentences for each men, out of concern of their eventual launch.
Honigsberg sentenced Lopez-Flores, 36, to a complete time period of 330 years to life in state prison. He gave Quintero, 27, 150 years to life. Lopez-Flores obtained a heightened sentence due to a previous home violence conviction.
Honigsberg denied requests by the protection attorneys for the 2 men to contemplate mitigating components in sentencing, together with Quintero’s age of 24 on the time of the crime, Lopez-Flores’ sixth grade schooling, and each of them being fathers.
Lopez-Flores, who gave an emotional testimony through the trial, maintained his innocence in an announcement he learn in Spanish to the court docket Wednesday.
“It is not fair that I continue to be punished for a crime I did not commit,” Lopez-Flores stated behind a white face masks. (*2*)
Before giving the sentences, Honigsberg referred to as the crime “one of the worst sexual assault (cases) I have ever witnessed as a judge or an attorney.”
“Mr. Lopez-Flores, what’s not fair is what you did in this case,” Honigsberg stated.
You can attain Staff Writer Emily Wilder at 707-521-5337 or emily.wilder@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @vv1lder.