Prosecution has rested, in the trial of two off-duty Border Patrol agents who are accused of lewd acts in public and then attacking a witness who complained.
Kallie Lamb Helwig, 25, and Gerald Joseph Torello, 35, have pleaded not guilty to charges that they performed sex acts during a circus performance at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, and then battered a woman who tried to summon an usher.
The alleged incident occurred during the final performance of a Cirque du Soleil event, on a Sunday evening, May 27, 2012.
Prosecutor Tracy Prior charged five counts, including lewd acts and battery and annoy child and making criminal threats; all are charged as misdemeanors.
Multiple witnesses testified that they heard Gerald Torello threaten to “kill” someone if they spoke again to his companion, Kallie Helwig; this allegedly during sex acts in the grandstands, while adults seated nearby said they were trying to convince the two to stop.
A security person who testified yesterday said when he asked Gerald Torello for ID, he was shown a Border Patrol badge; security people became involved after an alleged violent confrontation between Kallie Helwig and a woman bystander.
“I asked him if he was armed, he said no,” said director of security Nicholas Brown. The security director also testified that he found Gerald Torello to be “obviously intoxicated.” A San Diego County Sheriff’s deputy testified that Gerald Torello was held for three hours that night until he became sober, and then he was released.
Both defendants have remained at liberty, since the alleged incidents.
Defense attorneys are expected to present their case today, which may include the defendants taking the witness stand in their own defense, in San Diego’s North County superior courthouse.
The jury of nine women and three men has heard two days of testimony so far, and is expected to go into deliberations some time today or tomorrow.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/06/39625/
Prosecution has rested, in the trial of two off-duty Border Patrol agents who are accused of lewd acts in public and then attacking a witness who complained.
Kallie Lamb Helwig, 25, and Gerald Joseph Torello, 35, have pleaded not guilty to charges that they performed sex acts during a circus performance at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, and then battered a woman who tried to summon an usher.
The alleged incident occurred during the final performance of a Cirque du Soleil event, on a Sunday evening, May 27, 2012.
Prosecutor Tracy Prior charged five counts, including lewd acts and battery and annoy child and making criminal threats; all are charged as misdemeanors.
Multiple witnesses testified that they heard Gerald Torello threaten to “kill” someone if they spoke again to his companion, Kallie Helwig; this allegedly during sex acts in the grandstands, while adults seated nearby said they were trying to convince the two to stop.
A security person who testified yesterday said when he asked Gerald Torello for ID, he was shown a Border Patrol badge; security people became involved after an alleged violent confrontation between Kallie Helwig and a woman bystander.
“I asked him if he was armed, he said no,” said director of security Nicholas Brown. The security director also testified that he found Gerald Torello to be “obviously intoxicated.” A San Diego County Sheriff’s deputy testified that Gerald Torello was held for three hours that night until he became sober, and then he was released.
Both defendants have remained at liberty, since the alleged incidents.
Defense attorneys are expected to present their case today, which may include the defendants taking the witness stand in their own defense, in San Diego’s North County superior courthouse.
The jury of nine women and three men has heard two days of testimony so far, and is expected to go into deliberations some time today or tomorrow.
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/06/39625/