A jury has found a Medford, Oregon, man guilty of multiple sex crimes following a trial in which the victim was lodged in jail for nine days to ensure she’d testify in court.
A jury found Christian Alexander Sanchez, 30, guilty last week of more than a dozen felony crimes between February and September 2020, including rape, sodomy, kidnapping, coercion, assault and weapon use, the Mail Tribune reported.
The crimes involved one victim, now 20, who was reportedly held against her will. Sanchez used weapons against the woman that included a hammer, a lighter and a screwdriver, according to filings by the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office. The woman was in the Jackson County Jail Sept. 6-15 on a material witness hold, court and jail records show. The trial was Sept. 13-16.
Oregon Revised Statute 146.608 allows a district attorney or defendant to apply for a material witness hold when they believe the witness has “information material to the determination of the action against the defendant” and “will not appear at the time when attendance of the witness is required.” Judge Lorenzo Mejia ordered the woman detained until Sanchez’s trial ended based on a motion filed by Cook.
