by Connor Kianpour
The preliminary hearing for the case of Abraham Villa Sanchez began in Department 13 of the Superior Court of Yolo County on December 3, 2018, Judge Paul K. Richardson presiding. Mr. Sanchez has been charged with violating PC §245(a) which prohibits assault with a deadly weapon. It is alleged that Mr. Sanchez assaulted a transient woman outside of a Walmart in the city of West Sacramento with a Kryptonite bicycle lock on November 10, 2018.
Diane Ortiz, representing the people in this hearing, called first to the witness stand the woman who is alleged to have been assaulted by Mr. Sanchez. The woman testified that she was on the curb outside of the Walmart waiting for her husband to use the restroom with her two dogs. She testified that during the time that her husband was using the restroom, a man on a blue bicycle began verbally teasing her dogs. She claimed at one point during her testimony that this man had even started barking at her dogs. She told the man to leave her dogs alone and he left the scene momentarily. Once the witness’s husband came outside of the Walmart, the man on the blue bike returned and was being verbally aggressive toward the the witness and her husband. He allegedly threatened to kill the witness’s dogs. The witness testified that it was after she told the man to leave her dogs alone after this threat that he grabbed his Kryptonite bicycle lock off of his bike 
and struck her. She said that if she hadn’t raised her arm to protect herself that the lock would have struck her across the head. The man on the blue bike was identified by this witness as Abraham Sanchez.
Peter Borruso, representing Mr. Sanchez, cross-examined the victim of the alleged assault. During this cross-examination, it was determined that the woman who was taking the stand had bipolar disorder and had demonstrable anger issues. Judge Richardson had to admonish the woman several times over the course of the Mr. Borruso’s cross-examination. The cross-examination also revealed that the victim of this assault had no broken arm nor did she have to have her injured arm put in a cast.
Ms. Ortiz then called the woman’s husband who witnessed the assault take place to the witness stand. His testimony was identical to his wife’s, and he confirmed that his wife did not once attempt to strike Mr. Sanchez. Furthermore, he confirmed that Mr. Sanchez, after hitting a transient woman unprovoked, immediately fled the scene of the crime on his bike. Mr. Borruso called into question this witness’s credibility, however, when he brought up the witness’s criminal record which involves a statutory rape conviction and a failure to register as a sex offender in the state of Texas.
However, the prosecution was successful in calling two more witnesses to the stand who corroborated the credibility of the previous testimonies. Officer Danielle Blount of the West Sacramento Police Department testified that she took a statement from a woman who was in the Walmart parking lot at the time of the alleged assault. The woman said that she witnessed a man hitting a woman with a metal bike lock so hard that he could have killed someone. She described the perpetrator of the crime as “crazy.” Furthermore, Officer Cameron Simpson of the West Sacramento Police Department testified that he took a statement from a bystander of the event who saw a man kick a dog, strike a woman, and flee the scene of the crime. This bystander ended up following Mr. Sanchez by car, helping the West Sacramento Police Department locate Mr. Sanchez. Officer Simpson also testified that he has had 40 or more contacts with Mr. Sanchez previously, and that Mr. Sanchez has a reputation for being verbally aggressive.
Ultimately, Judge Richardson ruled that Mr. Sanchez will have to answer to the felony charges levied against him. The arraignment for this case is scheduled for December 18, 2018 at 10 AM in Department 13.
