Nearly four years after a 16-year-old girl was beaten, robbed and raped for over two hours outside of her Richmond High School homecoming dance, a rare dual trial will begin today for two of the six men and boys accused of participating in the gang rape. The Contra Costa County Superior Court will hear opening statements for 22-year-old Richmond resident Jose Monsanto and 20-year-old Marcelles Peter of Pinole.

Due to high profile national media coverage of the October 2009 attack and the community reaction that followed, it took four months to sort through over 900 potential jurors. The trial will use two juries, a rare occurrence in California that is necessary in this case because prosecutors decided to try the two men together, even though they have evidence that could possibly be inadmissible for one of them. The juries will overlap for most of the witness testimonies, but will be separated for different opening and closing arguments.

The first jury will hear opening statements in Peter's trial today and opening statements for Monsanto's trial will begin tomorrow afternoon. The victim is expected to take the witness stand for the first time during the current trial. The proceedings are expected to continue through the middle of July. In January 2011, the victim successfully sued the West Contra Costa Unified School District for a $4 million settlement in a civil trial because the gang rape occurred on campus despite the security brought in for the event.

During the civil trial, the court heard testimony that the girl left the homecoming dance around 9:30 p.m., intending to call her father for a ride. A classmate called her over to come hang out and drink with a group of people drinking in a dark courtyard. She was later found unconscious under a picnic table, partially clothed, and heavily beaten.

In September of last year, the "main instigator" in the attack, Manuel Ortega, was sentenced to 32 years in prison after he pled guilty to four felony counts of rape in concert, rape by foreign object, forced oral copulation in concert resulting in great bodily injury and robbery. Ortega's public defender blamed the gang rape on underage drinking, claiming the plea deal was an attempt to spare the victim's family the stress of a trial.

A second suspect, 19-year-old Ari Morales of San Pablo was sentence to 27 years after he pled guilty to a felony count of rape by a foreign object in concert, and no contest to rap in concert and forcible oral copulation in concert.

Also of note: An estimated 20 witnesses watched the attack in progress, but failed to to anything about it.

All previous coverage of the Richmond High School gang rape case

[ContraCostaTimes]