A conflict in testimony given Wednesday by an alleged rape victim and her earlier statement to a police detective surfaced Wednesday afternoon during the trial of Raul Manuel Magallanez Jr.
Magallanez, 32, is accused of rape of a girl under 14 years old, as well as approximately 60 counts alleging sexual and alcohol offenses against minors and one count of aggravated intimidation of a witness. Three separately filed cases against him have been merged into one trial.
The girl, who will be identified as Girl No. 3 to protect her identity, talked under cross-examination about a sexual encounter she had with Magallanez.
The defendant had threatened to hurt one of her friends if she told anyone that she had a sexual relationship with him, Girl No. 3 testified.
After the threat, she went with a friend’s brother to Magallanez’s car, got in and went with them to Magallanez’s home.
Defense attorney Julia Spainhour reiterated the girl’s testimony:
“He parks his car in front of his house and the boy just stays in the car and you go in the house with Manuel,” Spainhour asked.
The girl said that the first thing she saw in the house was a bed, and the defendant’s mother was sleeping in it. Girl No. 3 and Magallanez went to his bedroom, where he showed her two or three black handguns.
“Then he went into his closet and pulled out a bag of something and asked me if I wanted ‘chronic,’” the girl testified, adding she guessed that was “like weed (marijuana) or something.”
She said Magallanez took “chronic” out to the boy in the car and came back.
“What happened next?” Spainhour asked.
“We had sex,” Girl No. 3 said.
She said Magallanez took her back to the house where she and two friends were babysitting and spending the night. She went into the house and fell asleep.
Contradictions
Spainhour asked the girl about discrepancies in testimony and statements she had given in the case.
“On Aug. 7, you arrived at the county attorney’s office and you tell Detective (Lisa) Sage, ‘I didn’t really have sex on Oct. 4, I had sex on Nov. 1st,’ Spainhour said to Girl No. 3. “And you also tell her, ‘Oh, yeah, and by the way I also had sex on Nov. 26,’ correct?”
Spainhour contrasted the testimony with information allegedly given to the detective:
“You told her that ‘Manuel kind of covered my mouth with his hand and pretty much raped me,’” Spainhour said. “And you told her that you were thinking that you wanted to get out of there but you couldn’t, right?
“And you were saying that he held his hand over your mouth for 30 minutes and that he had sex with you, but didn’t wear a condom, and then when he was finished, he just threw your clothes back at you?”
“Yes,” the girl said.
“You’re telling us that Manuel was telling you, threatening you, not to tell anyone?” Spainhour said. “And according to you, he forced himself on you to keep you quiet?”
“Yes,” the girl answered to both questions.
“Have you ever left messages on Manuel’s telephone that were angry messages?” Spainhour asked.
“No,” the girl said. “Never.”
Spainhour brought in printouts of Web postings on one of Girl No. 3’s Web sites and asked the girl about the meaning of one of them:
“We’ve got this plot about how we’re going to win (the teenaged boy) over.”
Girl No. 3 said she could not explain the plot or what the posting meant.
Spainhour contended during opening statements that her client was innocent and the charges against him were the result of the relationships among the young people who frequented Magallanez’s house.
Under re-direct questioning by Assistant County Attorney Amy Aranda the girl confirmed that the date and the location were the only differences in her stories about the first sexual intercourse episode with the defendant.
Numerous cell calls
Aranda also went over more cell phone bills with Girl No. 3. The bills showed frequent and sometimes lengthy phone calls and texting between the girl’s phones and Magallanez.
The girl testified Wednesday morning that she had typed an e-mail message to her alleged rapist as he dictated the text to her.
Girl No. 3 said that the defendant had asked her to send the e-mail.
“I was talking on the phone with him and he was telling me what to say,” the girl said. She sent it “because he told me to.”
The e-mail apparently was intended to defuse rumors that were circulating after the girl told a girlfriend that she had had sexual intercourse with the defendant.
The e-mail said, “Hey, I’m sorry I made up shit saying we had sex and I’m pregnant and it’s not true.”
During cross-examination by defense attorney Spainhour, Girl No. 3 said she told people that she and the defendant had engaged in sex, but that she had not told anyone she was pregnant.
The girl said Magallanez told her “maybe at least once a day” that he could get into trouble if she told about their sexual involvement.
Early testimony this morning centered on numerous photographs that had been disseminated from Girl No. 3’s cell phone.
The girl had sent messages with photographs from her cell phone to Magallanez’s cell phone.
In a letter to the defendant, which was read this morning, the girl mentioned his asking if she ever thought about him.
“I think of you every second of every minute of every hour of every day. ... but yeah, I can’t stop thinking about you. Do you know you have the prettiest eyes?” she wrote. “... Can’t wait to be in your arms.”
Spainhour spent considerable time cross-examining the girl over cell phone calls, as they looked at a bill from the cell phone company.
Spainhour noted that sometimes the girl called Magallanez 10 to 15 times an hour.
“Do you remember him answering any of the phone calls?” Spainhour asked, referring to a specific time period on Oct. 31 last year.
“No,” the girl said.
She said she did not remember what the majority of the phone calls regarded. She also sent him photographs from her cell phone to his.
“Why did you send these pictures to Manuel?” the defense attorney asked.
“I don’t know,” the girl responded.