The prosecution wrapped up its case this morning in the rape
trial of former sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Rodrigues with a character
witness who alleged she had been in a relationship with the
defendant in the early to mid-1990s
– while she was 16 or 17 years old and the suspect was age 32 –
which she contends included violence. The woman also testified
Rodrigues on
”
several occasions
”
threatened to kill her and dispose of her body, according to
today’s testimony.
HOLLISTER
The prosecution wrapped up its case this morning in the rape trial of former sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Rodrigues with a character witness who alleged she had been in a relationship with the defendant in the early to mid-1990s – while she was 16 or 17 years old – which she contends included violence.
The woman also testified Rodrigues on “several occasions” threatened to kill her and dispose of her body, according to today’s testimony.
Rodrigues, a 25-year sheriff’s office deputy, is accused of raping four women, with additional counts for unlawful sexual penetration and domestic violence, according to court documents. Prosecutors allege he committed the acts between 1999 and 2007. Over the next week or so, the jury’s attention will turn to defense attorney Art Cantu’s attempts to discredit the prosecution’s witnesses.
The character witness today testified that Rodrigues, now 48, met her when he had pulled her over after leaving work at Dunneville Cafe. She alleged he continued to pull her over until the two began dating.
The witness said she had become sexually involved with and dated Rodrigues while she was 16 or 17 years old, in the early to mid-1990s. The witness noted Rodrigues was age 32 when they started dating.
The two dated for around six to eight months and during that time, Rodrigues would hit her and hold a gun to her head, she testified. The witness did say he was “sometimes nice.”
Deputy District Attorney Patrick Palacios asked the witness how many times Rodrigues had held a gun to her head, to which she responded, “I think once is enough.”
Also on “several occasions,” she testified, the witness said Rodrigues threatened to kill her and hide her body so no one could find her.
She testified that these incidents were reported a couple of years afterward when she had been working for the City of Marina’s Public Safety Department. The chief of police there had told her to report the matter to the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office, and she said she did so to then-Sheriff Harvey Nyland, who is now deceased.
Since that point, nothing has ever come from that report, she testified, and the witness said she did not know why nothing came to light from it. She also said she never had told authorities she wanted to pursue charges against Rodrigues and that she “wanted nothing to do with him.”
Outside of the interview with Nyland, authorities never spoke about the incidents with the witness until a district attorney’s office investigator called her regarding this case, she said.
The relationship between the witness and Rodrigues came to an end, she testified, when the defendant started dating his future wife.
“I think he started seeing Kristi, and that was my way of getting out.”
Below, see video of opening statements from the trial.
