A homeless Skid Row prostitute testified Thursday, March 14, that eight years ago, Jesse Perez Torres kidnapped her at knifepoint in Long Beach and drove her back to his apartment, where he bound her, beat her unconscious and raped her. Chellvonder Rose said Torres hogtied her and placed duct tape over her mouth so tightly that it muffled her screams, locked her in a bedroom closet and held her captive for two days. Lopez was missing for five days until her partially clothed body was found beneath an olive tree about three miles from the field where she vanished.
Torres, who lived in Moreno Valley at the time of her disappearance, was arrested in October after he had moved to Long Beach. Judge Bernard J. Schwartz, in instructing the jury that had convicted Torres, did not reference the moratorium on carrying out the death penalty instituted Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. But Schwartz, in boilerplate language, told jurors that they must assume that whichever sentence they recommend will be carried out.
Torres appeared stressed during the hearing, often placing one hand to his face and frequently sipping water from a plastic cup. Rose testified that she has been homeless off and on for about eight years and currently lives in a tent. She had just finished drinking it when a brown SUV rolled up.
Torres drove her to his apartment on East Burnett Street, Rose testified. When I woke up, my clothes was off. Rose began to cry when she described the sexual assaults against her in graphic detail, prompting Schwartz to ask her if she wanted to take a break. And Exum appeared to have difficulty impugning Rose on cross-examination. While he elicited testimony from Rose that she was under the influence, she said she was not prostituting herself that day. Rose testified that while she was locked in the closet, Torres chatted with a woman at the door for a half-hour.
Exum wondered how loudly she screamed for help. She also addressed a second video during which she sat clothed on a couch, talking with Torres, who was off camera. Rose said she agreed to speak in the video because he had threatened her.
