Court cases include murder, sexual assault

The following cases are scheduled for court today:

Lopez, 34, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Costa Mesa police arrested Lopez in August, 2005, at his home in the Newport Village Apartments complex on West Baker Street following a seven-month investigation. In 2004 and 2005, two women reported they were raped on the ground floor of the complex, police said.

Each instance occurred when the victims left doors and windows open or unlocked.

Lopez was one of 125 men at the complex who gave DNA samples. Police arrested him after matching him to DNA taken from the victims.

Garcia, 23, is accused of killing 16-year-old Ceceline Godsoe in 2001. She was found by her father beaten to death in the bluffs of Fairview Park.

Although Garcia was 17 at the time of the girl’s death, he will be tried as an adult, prosecutors said.

Deleon and friend Kennedy, called the brains and brawn of the plan, are scheduled for jury trial on Sept. 17. The trial was originally scheduled for the end of January.

Skylar Deleon’s wife, Jennifer Henderson-Deleon, was found guilty of first-degree murder. Her sentencing has been set for Oct. 5, prosecutors said. The maximum sentence she can receive is life in prison without parole.

Machain testified during Henderson-Deleon’s trial that he, Deleon and Kennedy overpowered the Hawkses while on a test-drive of the boat, made the couple sign over the title to them and then tied them to the anchor and threw them overboard. Prosecutors have not commented about Gardner, whose alleged role in the case has never been revealed.

In March, Byron Mauricio Izaguirre, 25, pleaded not guilty to charges of assault with the intent to commit rape, two counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object, and resisting and obstructing an officer, prosecutors said.

On Feb. 21, a man allegedly attacked a woman as she was getting out of her car, grabbed her and forced his hands down her clothing, prosecutors said. The victim ran down the street, but was allegedly caught by Izaguirre.

The alleged attacker fled when neighbors who heard screaming came out of their homes. Police found Izaguirre hidden in nearby bushes, prosecutors said.

Izaguirre faces up to 22 years in prison if convicted, officials said.

— Kelly Strodl