CASE OF INTEREST

Date: February 7, 2005

Case: People v. Christopher David Barajas
03F08559

Contact: Deputy District Attorney Joseph Chavez
Adult Sexual Assault Prosecution
Telephone: (916) 874-1787

District Attorney Jan Scully announced today that Christopher David Barajas, 37, was convicted after jury trial of kidnapping with the intent to commit rape, forcible sodomy, two counts of forcible oral copulation and three counts of rape. Mr. Barajas was serving a life sentence for another multiple count sexual assault he committed in October of 1997 when prosecuted for these crimes. He is now facing a second life sentence based on these guilty verdicts.

On March 20, 1997, Mr. Barajas offered to give a ride to the 17 year-old victim who was an acquaintance. He drove her, against her will, to a sparsely populated dead end street in south Sacramento and sexually assaulted her in his van. After the sexual assault he forced the victim out of the van while she was only partially clothed, and drove off. She made her way to 47th Street and flagged down a Sheriff’s Deputy who rendered aid. The victim only knew the perpetrator by the name of “Poppy”, so the Sheriff’s department was unable to identify Mr. Barajas at the time.

In April of 1998 Mr. Barajas was convicted of a similar sexual assault which he committed in October of 1997 in the city of Sacramento. He was sentenced to 41 years to life following that jury trial. In April of 2002 while serving his sentence Mr. Barajas was compelled to submit his DNA to the California State DNA data bank pursuant to state law. In 2003 a DNA match was made between the evidence collected in the present case and the DNA that had been submitted by Mr. Barajas.

In the present case, the jury rejected Mr. Barajas’ testimony that he and the victim got into an argument after having consensual sexual intercourse. Deputy District Attorney Joseph Chavez stated, “A lot of things had to be done properly by a lot of people for this case to be successfully prosecuted seven years after this horrible and brazen crime. The victim never lost faith in the criminal justice system; law enforcement pursed this case for years, and forensic scientists put the final piece together thanks to DNA technology”.

The Honorable Jack Sapunor will sentence Mr. Barajas on March 8, 2005. He is facing a second life sentence which would run consecutively to the life sentence he is currently serving.