Accused rapist will await trial behind bars
Defense says the decision was emotional rather than factual
An alleged rapist caught years after the fact using DNA evidence and a genealogy database will remain behind bars as he awaits trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Angel Gurule is accused of tackling and then raping a woman who had been running on a trail in the Rio Grande bosque on Christmas Eve in 2015. He would remain unidentified for about four years.
State District Judge Cindy Leos wrote that even though Gurule has no criminal history, the violent nature of the attack and compelling evidence against him, among other factors, led to her finding that no conditions of release could protect the
safety of the community.
According to court documents, the victim went to the Rape Crisis Center shortly after the attack and completed an exam. Investigators later used DNA collected during the exam and a genealogy service to identify one of Gurule’s distant relatives. They zeroed in on Gurule and eventually collected a DNA sample from him that was found to match the profile from the victim’s rape kit.
Prosecutor Lelia Hood argued that Gurule had violated all of society’s rules by choosing a woman at random and “impulsively” raping her. She pointed out that he had confessed and taken an investigator to the scene of the attack.
“Is any woman safe to jog alone when Angel Gurule is out of custody?” she asked at a detention hearing Tuesday.
Defense attorney Raymond Maestas, on the other hand, said the prosecution was making an emotional plea rather than arguing the facts of the case.
Following Wednesday’s ruling, Maestas said in a statement that he believes some of the actions by an investigator in the case were troubling and that his client deserves better.
“Angel is a human being. A son. A husband. A caretaker,” he wrote. “And, sadly, a victim of child abuse.”