People v. Russell CA6

I. BACKGROUND

In the summer of 2016, defendant attacked a 19-year-old woman at a bus stop in San Jose and tried to drag her away. She screamed, fought back, and broke free. Four days later, he did the same thing to another 19-year-old woman. She too managed to escape. Because defendant was a registered sex offender, police were able to identify him from security camera footage recorded during one of the incidents. They soon located and arrested him. Defendant was charged with multiple offenses based on the theory that he was trying to kidnap the women to rape them. He was also charged with failing to update his sex offender registration because he had listed a business address as his residence. He was charged with vehicle theft because the car he was driving when arrested had been stolen. Both women who were attacked testified at defendant’s jury trial. The first described how she was shopping at a secondhand store when defendant approached and told her she had a nice body and they should go out to dinner. She testified they talked for about 20 minutes, though she spoke limited English and understood only about half of what defendant said. After she left the store, defendant…