EGN NEWS DESK
When Ontario police interrogated the 18-year-old about his plans to shoot up his college, he laid out what he known as his ideas — the place he may park, the place he may open fireplace, how he may defend himself in opposition to police — in response to hypothetical questions comparable to “If you had been going to do it, how would you do it?”
Sometimes he would say “I haven’t thought that far forward” earlier than explaining what he may do, detectives testified.
Over a two-day preliminary listening to on 5 counts of tried homicide that concluded Tuesday, April 16, protection legal professional Daniel DeLimon solicited testimony from detectives that nobody on the college felt threatened by Villaseñor — apart from his sister after an argument — and that no threats had been communicated to anybody on the 475-student college regardless of authorities itemizing 5 particular victims.
DeLimon argued that the regulation on tried homicide requires not simply preparation and planning, however a direct step to hold out a plot, and that the costs must be dismissed.
“We’re speaking in regards to the distinction between ideas and plans and placing plans into motion and committing homicide,” DeLimon mentioned. “He had accomplished nothing — nothing — to organize.”
But San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Debbie Ploghaus famous that an Ontario police officer who examined Villaseñor’s computer systems testified that he discovered greater than 4,500 associated searches, downloads or texts and countered that Villaseñor’s monthslong down-the-rabbit-hole obsession with studying every thing he may about finishing up a college taking pictures amounted to the direct step required by regulation to convict.
Ploghaus described the rifle selfies as “a gown rehearsal.”
Superior Court Judge Shannon L. Faherty agreed and ordered Villaseñor to face trial.
Faherty mentioned she believed that Villaseñor’s “ideas” had been synonymous with “plans.”
Villaseñor’s actions got here to mild, and the investigation started, when his 15-year-old sister, Isabella, reported them to a college counselor.
“This was a steady course of conduct,” Faherty mentioned in a second-floor courtroom in Rancho Cucamonga. “It began with curiosity and bought to the purpose that it developed into an precise plan. Looking at every thing as a complete, there’s a crossover between preparation and overt acts. … I’m fairly sure and nervous that this plan would have come to fruition if his sister had not stepped in.”
In a twist, an tried felony risk cost in opposition to Villaseñor — Isabella was listed because the sufferer — was dropped with out rationalization. She testified that she witnessed her brother posing with their father’s rifles in December at their Eastvale house and that he was obsessive about college taking pictures movies.
She mentioned she reported him to highschool counselor Mitch Stutz and principal Benjamin Dykhouse on Feb. 8 to get even with him over an argument that they had within the college parking zone that morning. Her brother had advised her to not discuss a woman he thought-about a snob after which clenched his fist.
Although no skilled testified that Villaseñor is autistic, his sister, college officers and detectives testified that they consider Villaseñor was “totally different” or “on the spectrum.”
People with autism can have “intense conversational give attention to topics that curiosity (them), mixed with a minimal curiosity to interact in dialog on different matters,” in line with the web site thespectrum.org. They can have “the flexibility to focus intensely on hobbies or actions of curiosity. For instance, (they) might be able to memorize all of the info a couple of well-liked band however have little interest in listening to the music itself.”
Without skilled testimony, DeLimon treaded evenly in that space, however he instructed by his questions that autism defined Villaseñor’s obsessive analysis.
Villaseñor had problem becoming in at college as a result of he was socially awkward, college officers testified. The 5 victims had been 4 women who had snubbed Villaseñor and a boy who was relationship a woman who repeatedly rejected Villaseñor’s requests for dates. Villaseñor bowed his head and cried when a detective testified about his would-be girlfriend.
Albert Alvarado, the lead detective on the case, testified below cross-examination that he couldn’t establish a particular particular person apart from Villaseñor’s sister who was a sufferer on this case, though the opposite 5 had been recognized by title in the course of the listening to.
“I say he threatened Ontario Christian High School,” Alvarado mentioned.
The teenagers’ father, Ramiro Villaseñor, sat on a bench exterior the courtroom after Tuesday’s listening to, staring on the flooring for a dozen seconds earlier than he pursed his lips and spoke.
“I’m very disillusioned within the court docket’s choice and I feel the court docket failed to know how the thoughts of an autistic little one works,” he mentioned.
Sebastian Villaseñor is due again in court docket on April 25 and stays in custody in lieu of $1 million bail.
