Men To Stand Trial In Mission Beach Assault, Robbery Case

SAN DIEGO -- Three men accused in the Mission Beach home-invasion robbery of four college students and the rape of two of them must stand trial on sexual assault, robbery and kidnapping charges, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Donald Duante Smith, 19, Willie Louis Watkins, 31, and Antonio Washington, 18, each face more than 400 years to life in state prison if convicted.

All three defendants are charged with raping and sexually assaulting two 18-year-old women while holding an 18-year-old man and a 19-year-old man at gunpoint last Oct. 15. All four victims were University of San Diego students.

The gun or guns used in the assault turned out to be BB guns, according to testimony at a two-day preliminary hearing.

After the hearing, Superior Court Judge Kerry Wells ruled there was probable cause to believe that Smith, Watkins and Washington were guilty.

All three are charged with two counts of forcible rape in concert, four counts of forcible rape, two counts of oral copulation by acting in concert, four counts of forcible oral copulation, two counts of oral copulation, one count of unlawful penetration, two counts of attempted rape, one count of sodomy while acting in concert, two counts of false imprisonment, four counts of robbery and two counts of kidnapping for robbery.

Arraignment and trial-setting was for set for Feb. 15.

San Diego police Detective Javier Padilla testified that Washington admitted during an interrogation in November that he, Smith and Watkins robbed three men in Mission Beach around 12:30 a.m. then headed to a nearby residential neighborhood.

Padilla gave this summary of Washington's statement:

The three looked into a residence and saw a man and woman sitting on a couch in a condominium on San Fernando Place and agreed to rob them.

Watkins took the woman into another room and forced the woman to orally copulate all three defendants. The woman at first refused, but Watkins threatened to kill her if she didn't perform the act.

Watkins ordered one of the male victims to have sex with the woman and then told the male victim he wasn't doing it right and started having sex with the woman.

While Watkins went downstairs to get the second female victim, Smith and Washington had sex with the first woman. When Watkins brought the second female victim upstairs, all three defendants tried to have sex with her.

The defendants stole a wide-screen TV, credit cards, cell phones and electronics and took the women out of the residence, intending to go somewhere else with them. But when they saw the police, the three defendants left the women and ran away.

A 17-year-old, identified by the initials D.R.E., testified that he, another 17-year-old identified by the initials A.S., Smith and Washington met up with others at Mission Beach the night of the incident, forming a group of about 10.

D.R.E. testified that he saw Watkins loading the TV into a car after the group split up. The witness said Smith and Washington got in his car and joked about sexually assaulting the women in the condominium on San Fernando Place.

A.S. testified that he rode in the car with D.R.E., Smith and Washington as they left the beach area.

The witness said Smith and Washington had bags of stolen property that they had taken from the condominium.

Deputy District Attorney Patrick Espinoza said the two juveniles each signed a cooperating agreement with his office, agreeing to testify against the adult defendants.

If prosecutors find the minors testified truthfully, they will be allowed to plead guilty in Juvenile Court to charges of receiving stolen property and being an accessory after the fact.

If that comes to pass, the juveniles would receive a maximum sentence of three years, eight months in custody, Espinoza said.