SAN JOSE
– The 40-year-old Morgan Hill man who sparked a countywide
manhunt in December 2001 after sexually assaulting two South County
women and two San Jose women at knife-point pled guilty Tuesday to
charges that will send him to prison for life.
SAN JOSE – The 40-year-old Morgan Hill man who sparked a countywide manhunt in December 2001 after sexually assaulting two South County women and two San Jose women at knife-point pled guilty Tuesday to charges that will send him to prison for life.
Hector Sanchez, 40, will serve at least four consecutive life sentences in state prison. His guilty plea Tuesday came unexpectedly on the fifth day of his trial at the Hall of Justice in San Jose.
Following the prosecution’s opening statements, Sanchez informed his attorney of his decision. The first of Sanchez’s four victims – a Gilroy woman – was scheduled to testify later in the day.
“He told me that he didn’t want the victims to have to take the stand,” said Randy Danto, Sanchez’s public defender. “And I told him I agreed with his decision because the evidence against him was overwhelming.”
Sanchez’s string of sexual assaults began in Gilroy Dec. 9, 2001, when he abducted a 42-year-old Gilroy woman at knife-point, drove her to a secluded area and attempted to rape her. The woman eventually escaped the car and called police.
During the following two weeks he raped and robbed a 48-year-old San Jose woman at her home, and he sexually assaulted a 46-year-old San Jose woman at her office.
On Jan. 8, 2002, Sanchez attacked at 68-year-old woman at her home in Morgan Hill. Sanchez blindfolded and raped the woman before tying her up, robbing her and stealing her van.
Three days later Sanchez was arrested when police spotted his last victim’s stolen van parked outside a motel on Monterey Road in San Jose.
“The victims are all happy they did not have to testify because it’s such a painful thing to go through,” said Ben Field, the Deputy District Attorney who is prosecuting the case. “(Sanchez) has ruined a lot of people’s lives.”
Sanchez is a divorced father and his family lives in Morgan Hill, although he was a transient at the time of the incidents.
Sentencing for Sanchez is scheduled for May 6 in San Jose.
“(Sanchez) has shown remorse for these crimes since the beginning,” Danto said. “But we don’t have to wait for the sentencing to know that he will die in prison.”
