Charges Remain Against Former San Mateo Officer Accused Of Raping 5 Women
REDWOOD CITY (KPIX 5) – The attorney for a former San Mateo police officer accused of raping five women on Thursday argued that some of the charges against his client should be thrown out.
Noah Winchester's defense attorney Mike Rains said the charges related to two of the cases from San Mateo should be dismissed.
But the judge disagreed, saying there was enough evidence to move forward and let a jury decide if Winchester was guilty.
Winchester is charged with 22 felony counts relating to the assaults of five women while he was a police officer. Three of those alleged assaults were in San Mateo while he was an officer for the city and two were in Sacramento while he was an officer for Los Rios Community College.
Prosecutors say he would pull women over, then order the women to have sex with him.
"At a time when we're trying to rebuild law enforcement's reputation, for a man to do this while wearing the uniform, it is an egregious disgrace and one we want to hold accountable," said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
"He is confident that if he gets a jury of folks with open minds who are willing to listen, that there will be a different account of these events than we have heard thus far," said defense attorney Rains.
The judge did dismiss a couple of the less serious counts against Winchester relating to one of the Sacramento victims.
The trial is scheduled for February 5. Winchester will remain in jail on more than $1 million bail.
If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
