Closing arguments today in Bennett Valley rape case

<p>Jurors in a Bennett Valley kidnapping and rape case received their final instructions from the judge Monday morning and will begin deliberating after attorneys give their closing arguments Monday afternoon.</p><p>Aristotle Quadra, 31, would face a potential life prison term if he is convicted of the most serious of nine felony charges, including attempted first-degree murder, rape and kidnapping with the intent to rape. </p><p>The alleged victim testified that Quadra shoved her from behind into her SUV as she was loading her 20-month-old son into his car seat on Feb. 7 in the Yulupa Safeway parking lot. She said he was holding an ice pick and threatened the boy’s life unless she complied with his demands.</p><p>She testified that Quadra forced her to drive to a secluded parking lot a few miles away, where he handcuffed her and raped her while her son sat in his car seat in the back seat. After the sexual assault, she testified, Quadra sat quietly for as long as two minutes before turning toward her and stabbing her as many as 14 times with the ice pick.</p><p>The woman was able to break one hand free from the handcuffs and stomp on the car horn, causing her attacker to flee. Quadra was arrested three days later after a former co-worker identified him from a composite sketch based on the woman’s description.</p><p>Prosecution testimony included a match between Quadra’s DNA and semen recovered after the alleged rape and microscopic comparisons of pieces of metal found in the handcuffs and a rope found in Quadra’s apartment.</p><p>Quadra’s attorney did not give an opening statement or call any witnesses in Quadra’s defense. He suggested, though not in front of jurors during his minimal cross-examinations, that Quadra was high on methamphetamine at the time and may not have been able to form the necessary intent to commit the crimes.</p><p>Monday morning, Judge Ken Gnoss instructed jurors on the requirements of a defendant’s specific intent to commit attempted murder and kidnapping with the intent to rape. He told them that a defendant’s voluntary intoxication can be considered in determining whether those acts were premeditated and intentional, but not in connection with other charges of rape, kidnapping the boy, assault, false imprisonment and child endangerment.</p>