Dec. 13—GRAND FORKS — After deliberating for just over three and a half hours, a Grand Forks jury found Angel Alberto Torres-Sosa guilty of kidnapping, aggravated assault and attempted gross sexual imposition.
A pre-sentencing investigation was ordered to be completed prior to sentencing, which is scheduled for March 31 at 10:30 a.m.
The kidnapping and attempted gross sexual imposition charges are Class A felonies and carry prison sentences of up to 20 years.
The aggravated assault charge is a class C misdemeanor.
Torres-Sosa, 32, was accused of pretending to give a woman a ride home from a Grand Forks bar and instead taking her to his residence, which was about 10 blocks away. On a mattress in the basement, he physically attacked her and tried to sexually assault her, according to court documents, prosecutors’ statements and trial testimony.
The state called fourteen witnesses to testify at the trial –
which officially started on Tuesday afternoon, December 10
– including six who are considered experts in their field. The evidence presented included a recording of the 911 call the woman made after leaving Torres-Sosa’s residence, DNA, a toxicology report, medical records, video footage, photographs and clothing.
A fourth charge, Class C terrorism, was dismissed at trial when Torres-Sosa’s attorney argued the state had not presented enough evidence to support the charge. Judge Jason McCarthy agreed to dismiss it.
Final jury instructions were given at 8:30 a.m. Friday, December 13, and closing arguments from the state and defense followed. Finally, the state delivered its rebuttal and the jury was sent out for deliberation just after 11 a.m
During the state’s closing arguments, Grand Forks County Assistant State’s Attorney Megan Essig spoke about what she said were Torres-Sosa’s intentions.
that night of October 2023.
“He saw what he wanted – an easy target – a friendly, young girl drinking in a bar,” she said.
The woman spent 88 minutes in Torres-Sosa’s basement, losing consciousness twice and suffering injuries and trauma that she had to relive with strangers during the process, Essig said.
During his closing arguments, Torres-Sosa’s attorney, Alexander Riechert, said there was no evidence that anything that did or did not happen was against the woman’s will.
“What stopped her?” he asked.
There was testimony that the woman was locked in Torres-Sosa’s pickup, Reichert said, but what stopped her from opening the door? How was she forced into the vehicle in the first place?
Surveillance footage showed that friends the woman had been sitting at the bar with were nearby when she went up to Torres-Sosa, who was waiting for her at his pickup, Riechert said. Why would they let her leave with him if they thought she was drugged, he said, as the prosecutor had hinted, or otherwise in danger?
When Torres-Sosa and the woman arrived at his home, she testified. He led her out of the vehicle and into his home. At this point, Riechert said, she could have left. She could have screamed or fought.
“Did she want to come in, and that didn’t fit in with her story today?” Riechert asked.
The woman testified that she fought off Torres-Sosa’s advance in the basement, but there was no physical evidence that he was punched or scratched, Riechert said. Torres-Sosa’s only injury was a bloody lip, which the woman testified was the result of her bite.
The woman testified that she thought Torres-Sosa had tried something sexual with her, Riechert said.
“’I think he tried’ can’t be enough,” he said.
He also said there was no evidence of drugging or rape. In her rebuttal, Essig said these were not factors of the criminal charges in the case, and therefore the prosecutor did not have to prove this happened.
She also said it was the prosecutor’s job — not the woman’s — to prove what happened that night.
And despite whatever the defense may say about the woman’s story changing, Essig said, it’s important to consider the impact of the trauma and the amount of time that has passed since the incident.
Whatever the woman did or didn’t do during the violations, Essig said, was a result of fear.
What did happen, she said, was a kidnapping, aggravated assault and an attempted sexual assault — which she said the prosecution had proven.
The prosecutor spoke of a bloodstain in the crotch area of the woman’s pants and male DNA in her vagina. Riechert responded that there was not enough DNA to test its source, and that the bloodstain had not been tested for DNA, but was simply assumed to be the woman’s.
A sexual assault nurse investigator testified at the trial that the woman showed signs of strangulation, such as redness on her neck, pain and difficulty swallowing; A DNA swab from her neck matched Torres-Sosa’s DNA, Essig said.
Riechert said photos of the woman’s neck did not show she had been strangled.
“You’re caught between the state and branding Angel a criminal,” Reichert told the jury at the end of his argument. “No matter what you do, this will haunt Angel forever.”
