3 Students Plead Not Guilty to Rape

SYLMAR — Three Birmingham High School students pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that they sexually assaulted a 16-year-old female acquaintance after she had passed out drunk at a daytime party last Friday.

As parents of the defendants looked on at the Juvenile Court arraignments, Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Jack Gold ordered that the three boys, ages 16, 17 and 14, remain in custody until their cases are resolved.

Prosecutors are requesting that Jose Sanchez, 17, and Alejandro Zamora, 16, who are charged with rape and sodomy of an unconscious person, be tried as adults. A fitness hearing is scheduled for Dec. 22 to determine if Sanchez and Zamora meet the legal requirements for an adult trial.

The 14-year-old, charged with attempted rape and sodomy, will be tried as a juvenile, and has a pretrial hearing scheduled for the same date, Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Feldstern said.

Police said all of the accused juveniles are members of a tagging crew--a group of graffiti vandals.

On Wednesday, Jose Sanchez’s brother, Nathaniel Sanchez, 18, was charged with one felony count of attempted rape of an unconscious person. He is in County Jail in lieu of $55,000 bail, and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, the district attorney’s office said.

Prosecutors say the four defendants were among 15 youths--including the girl--who ditched classes Friday at the high school in Van Nuys for a party that took place at the home of one of the students.

After the girl passed out, at least six people sexually assaulted her, police said. She was found in a bedroom with bruises, cuts and bites all over her body, authorities said. She was taken to a Woodland Hills hospital, where an examination determined that she had been sexually assaulted.

Three other teenage boys were arrested in connection with the case Friday and Monday. All have since been released without being charged, but district attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said they remain under investigation. Police said others may eventually be charged.

“We’re not done with our interviews yet, and there are still suspects out there,” LAPD Det. Craig Rhudy said.

Investigators said the case is proving a challenge because the the victim was unconscious at the time of the assaults.

Before Thursday’s hearings, Alejandro Zamora’s mother, Ana Zamora, waited outside the courtroom for her son’s case to be called, occasionally sobbing into the arm of a man accompanying her. She said she knew little of what went on Friday, except that her son had been at a party, and that there was drinking involved. She also said she did not believe her son was involved with a tagging crew.