A Salt Lake County man acquitted in a 1999 rape trial wasn't so lucky at a second trial on similar charges.
A seven-man, one-woman jury convicted Edwin Mitchell Pirela Friday night of one count of first-degree felony aggravated sexual assault and one count of third-degree felony aggravated assault.
Jurors acquitted Pirela, 46, of a second first-degree felony aggravated sexual assault count.
Pirela's 28-year-old victim told police she met the man at the vending machine of a Midvale motel where she lived with her fiance. Pirela also was living at the motel at the time.
The woman said Pirela asked her to come to his room, a request she denied. However, she relented after Pirela repeatedly called her room.
After she entered the room, the woman told police, Pirela locked the door, ripped off her clothes and raped her twice while choking her and striking her in the face. The victim's fiancee on Friday testified he came home from work early after the "hysterical" woman called him and told him she had been raped. After breaking through the barricaded door, the man testified he found his fiancee in the corner curled in the corner in the fetal position. She was holding a kitchen knife in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other, he said.
Salt Lake County forensic nurse Su Bryner-Brown examined the woman shortly after the attack. Bryner-Brown charted bruises around the woman's throat and her upper arms, genital trauma, and swollen, bloody lips and nose. Brown also testified the woman suffered from burst blood vessels in her eyes, an indication of being choked.
Bryner-Brown testified the woman's injuries were consistent with forcible sexual assault. Salt Lake County forensic nurse Su Bryner-Brown examined the woman shortly after the attack. Bryner-Brown testified the woman's injuries were consistent with forcible sexual assault. Brown also testified the woman suffered from burst blood vessels in her eyes, an indication of being choked.
Defense attorneys and Pirela, however, had a different story. They said the woman was a prostitute and a drug addict who agreed to have sex with Pirela for drug money.
Pirela testified he gave the woman $15 up front and was supposed to pay her the remainder after the two finished the sex act. However, he told the woman he didn't want to pay her because he learned the money would be used for drugs, Pirela said Friday.
The woman then became angry and began kicking furniture in the room and swinging at Pirela, he said. He reacted by grabbing the collar of the woman's shirt and shoving her out the door.
"I may have hit her and I may have been holding her too tight," Pirela said. "I'm not sure if I hit her, but it's possible. It's unfortunate what some people will do to get their next high," Sterling said. "This was not something she was doing because she necessarily found Mr. Pirela attractive. This was something she was doing to get more money for drugs." Deputy district attorney Michaela Andruzzi admitted the woman used drugs that night, but vehemently argued the admission should have no impact on their verdict.
"Just because she used drugs that night doesn't mean she gets to get raped. Does doing drugs make her any less of a person?" Andruzzi said. "I'm always amazed in sexual cases that we're always focused on what the victim did. If this was a car theft, would we be worried about what the victim did?" The charges are not the first time Pirela has faced allegations of rape.
Pirela was charged in February 1998 with one count of aggravated sexual assault after he allegedly struck his ex-girlfriend and threatened to kill her unless she engaged in sexual intercourse with him at his Murray apartment.
Jurors acquitted Pirela of the rape after a November 1999 jury trial in which he admitted to beating the woman but claimed the two had consensual sex. They did, however, find Pirela guilty of simple assault, a class A misdemeanor.
Pirela was granted credit for time served and released from state custody immediately following the trial. This time, however, he will remain at the Utah State Prison pending his June 18 sentencing. He faces up to life in prison.
E-mail: awelling@desnews.com