Norma patricia esparza, Norma Patricia Esparza, a psychology professor, was taken to jail this week after she rejected a plea deal with prosecutors. They said Esparza had a role in a murder of a man who she claimed raped her .
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A psychology professor was handcuffed and taken to jail Thursday after rejecting a plea deal from prosecutors who claim she had a role in killing a man she says raped her as a college student in 1995.
Norma Esparza proclaimed her innocence in an unusual news conference before she was taken into custody and as advocates chastised the Orange County district attorney’s office for sending what they called a chilling message to sexual assault victims.
Her lawyer said Esparza’s reluctance to report the alleged crime nearly two decades ago has her facing a murder charge for the stabbing death of the man she says raped her.
“If you ever get raped or touched, make sure you report it to police,” defense attorney Bob Corrado told reporters. “If she had done that she wouldn’t be here today.”
Esparza, who is now a 39-year-old psychology professor living in France, was jailed after rejecting a manslaughter plea deal offered by prosecutors. They allege she encouraged the 1995 murder of Gonzalo Ramirez after pointing him out to her ex-boyfriend at a Santa Ana bar.
The Mexican-born, California-raised Esparza claims she was raped by Ramirez after meeting him in 1995. After telling ex-boyfriend Gianni Van about the alleged assault, Van “took matters into his own hands” with a group of friends, her husband Jorge Mancillas said.
Esparza was taken to a transmission shop and shown a bloodied Ramirez and threatened while a man waved a gun, Mancillas said. Van told her they later released Ramirez but Esparza learned when she was interviewed by police weeks later that he had been killed, he said.
She was then pressured to marry Van so she could not be bound to testify against him, Mancillas said.
Over the next 17 years, Esparza made a life for herself. She graduated from college, obtained a doctorate, consulted for the World Health Organization and began teaching in Europe. She eventually got a divorce from Van and married and started a family.
She had put the events of 1995 behind her until she was arrested last year while traveling to the United States. She was charged with murder with special circumstances and jailed for two months until she was released on $300,000 bail in a special deal with prosecutors that let her live in Europe while returning to Orange County for court.
Van and two others were indicted — with help from Esparza’s testimony — in grand jury proceedings earlier this year.
Prosecutors contend Esparza pointed Ramirez out to Van at the same bar where she had met him a few weeks earlier. Van and others followed Ramirez, rear-ended him with a van and attacked and kidnapped him before killing him and dumping his body in Irvine, prosecutors allege.
“She actively encouraged this crime,” said Scott Simmons, senior deputy district attorney. He declined to discuss the facts of the case.
Prosecutors had offered to let Esparza plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter and take a three-year prison sentence, of which she would have most likely served half. She declined the offer Thursday morning, and was ordered jailed by Judge Gerald G. Johnston.
Johnston said papers drawn up last year by prosecutors show they intended to return her to custody if the case went to trial.
“It does appear this was a telegraphed intent for nearly a year,” Johnston said. A preliminary hearing was set for Dec 23.
Corrado had argued for his client to remain free on bail because she has repeatedly come to court when ordered.
Esparza, who says she suffered years of sexual abuse by her father as a child, said at a news conference Wednesday that she lived in fear of Van and his friends that night and for years after the attack.
“All I knew is, that I wanted to survive,” she said. “All I knew was that these people were dangerous and I just needed to stay quiet and withdraw and come out of that night alive.”
Flanked by Mancillas and the couple’s 4-year-old daughter, a soft-spoken but firm Esparza said she could not plead guilty to something she did not do.
“The principle of what they’re asking me is to plead guilty to something that they know I am not responsible for,” she said. “It would essentially be a lie.”
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A psychology professor was handcuffed and taken to jail Thursday after rejecting a plea deal from prosecutors who claim she had a role in killing a man she says raped her as a college student in 1995.
Norma Esparza proclaimed her innocence in an unusual news conference before she was taken into custody and as advocates chastised the Orange County district attorney’s office for sending what they called a chilling message to sexual assault victims.
Her lawyer said Esparza’s reluctance to report the alleged crime nearly two decades ago has her facing a murder charge for the stabbing death of the man she says raped her.
“If you ever get raped or touched, make sure you report it to police,” defense attorney Bob Corrado told reporters. “If she had done that she wouldn’t be here today.”
Esparza, who is now a 39-year-old psychology professor living in France, was jailed after rejecting a manslaughter plea deal offered by prosecutors. They allege she encouraged the 1995 murder of Gonzalo Ramirez after pointing him out to her ex-boyfriend at a Santa Ana bar.
The Mexican-born, California-raised Esparza claims she was raped by Ramirez after meeting him in 1995. After telling ex-boyfriend Gianni Van about the alleged assault, Van “took matters into his own hands” with a group of friends, her husband Jorge Mancillas said.
Esparza was taken to a transmission shop and shown a bloodied Ramirez and threatened while a man waved a gun, Mancillas said. Van told her they later released Ramirez but Esparza learned when she was interviewed by police weeks later that he had been killed, he said.
She was then pressured to marry Van so she could not be bound to testify against him, Mancillas said.
Over the next 17 years, Esparza made a life for herself. She graduated from college, obtained a doctorate, consulted for the World Health Organization and began teaching in Europe. She eventually got a divorce from Van and married and started a family.
She had put the events of 1995 behind her until she was arrested last year while traveling to the United States. She was charged with murder with special circumstances and jailed for two months until she was released on $300,000 bail in a special deal with prosecutors that let her live in Europe while returning to Orange County for court.
Van and two others were indicted — with help from Esparza’s testimony — in grand jury proceedings earlier this year.
Prosecutors contend Esparza pointed Ramirez out to Van at the same bar where she had met him a few weeks earlier. Van and others followed Ramirez, rear-ended him with a van and attacked and kidnapped him before killing him and dumping his body in Irvine, prosecutors allege.
“She actively encouraged this crime,” said Scott Simmons, senior deputy district attorney. He declined to discuss the facts of the case.
Prosecutors had offered to let Esparza plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter and take a three-year prison sentence, of which she would have most likely served half. She declined the offer Thursday morning, and was ordered jailed by Judge Gerald G. Johnston.
Johnston said papers drawn up last year by prosecutors show they intended to return her to custody if the case went to trial.
“It does appear this was a telegraphed intent for nearly a year,” Johnston said. A preliminary hearing was set for Dec 23.
Corrado had argued for his client to remain free on bail because she has repeatedly come to court when ordered.
Esparza, who says she suffered years of sexual abuse by her father as a child, said at a news conference Wednesday that she lived in fear of Van and his friends that night and for years after the attack.
“All I knew is, that I wanted to survive,” she said. “All I knew was that these people were dangerous and I just needed to stay quiet and withdraw and come out of that night alive.”
Flanked by Mancillas and the couple’s 4-year-old daughter, a soft-spoken but firm Esparza said she could not plead guilty to something she did not do.
“The principle of what they’re asking me is to plead guilty to something that they know I am not responsible for,” she said. “It would essentially be a lie.”
