Arrest in 1990 South L.A. slaying provides sense of justice
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-elderly-killing16-2009jan16,0,2100730.story
In their rough South Los Angeles neighborhood, after one resident became concerned with not seeing her neighbor who she regularly watched out for, discovered her friend’s lifeless body lying on the bed with her arms half-raised and her face covered by a sheet. Police later determined that she had been raped and strangled.
Detectives spent months investigating, but in a city that recorded nearly 1,000 homicides that year, the slaying of the woman was quickly forgotten.
But a few years ago, police decided to take a secondlook at the case. Detectives tested DNA evidence found on the woman’s bedsheet, believing it had been left by her killer. Recently, they got a hit on a national DNA database. That led them to a man whose family lived next door on East 32nd Street. Isidro R. Ponce, 48, was arrested and charged with capital murder this week. And the friend got a knock on her door from LAPD detectives, who told her of his capture. In 2002, the department added to the national database DNA found at the house. Nothing came up.
In October, Ponce was arrested in Concord on an outstanding domestic violence arrest warrant from Los Angeles. Ponce was shipped back to L.A. Once in jail, his mouth was eventually swabbed for DNA, as is standard procedure. On Jan. 5, the LAPD got the call that Ponce’s DNA matched that from the Harvey crime scene. A check of Ponce’s background revealed he was a one-time neighbor, LAPD Deputy Chief Charlie Beck said. Investigators had interviewed a relative back in 1990, but he didn’t mention Ponce.
The family of the accused stated in an interview, “We’re finding it hard to believe the accusation — that one of our own family members is capable of doing that.”
America’s Criminal Defense Group led by criminal attorney Anthony Partipilo is shocked to hear about the results in this rape case. Rape is a very sensitive subject matter alone, but what is even more sensitive and shocking to Anthony Partipilo is that it has taken law enforcement 19 years to solve this rape case. It is the opinion of Anthony Partipilo that any rape or sexual assault case should be handled by a competent criminal attorney in conjunction with law enforcement so that there will be appropriate discovery in a case and a family will not have to wait 19 years for closure. Furthermore, information maintained in a rape kit tends to become more unreliable due to the possibility of contamination over time. We will have to see if the suspects DNA truly matches anything in the the rape kit taken 19yrs ago.
Anyone who has been accused of rape or sexual assault should contact Todd Terry, senior case manager (non-attorney) Β for America’s Criminal Defense Group www.americascriminaldefense.com or call 818 225 2468 as soon as possible so that they have a proper criminal lawyer and do not have to wait 19 years due to incompetence by law enforcement.
