Kind Grind Rape Suspect's Trial Begins; Elvis Garcia was Arrested After his Father's DNA Led Police to Him

An 8-woman, 4-man jury heard a 23-year-old woman's cries for help on a 9-1-1 call Monday, the first day of testimony in the trial of Elvis Lorenzo Garcia, charged with raping a barista at the Kind Grind coffee shop in March, 2008.

"This case is every single woman's worst nightmare," said Assistant District Attorney Michael Gilman. He said the victim had walked to the harborside coffee shop from her Seabright home before her 6 a.m. shift because she hadn't finished cleaning up the night before.

She was singing and happy and listening to her iPod as she walked into the store and while she was working. Then, he said, Elvis Garcia walked in through the unlocked door and held a knife to her throat. 

She was about to say "Sorry honey, we're not open yet," said the attorney, when Garcia, 21, put the knife against her throat and back and raped her repeatedly.

The jury heard the woman's tearful call, saying she had been raped and struggling to answer questions about what her attacker looked like. 

Police arrested Garcia three years later after one of only two cases in the state where familial DNA helped identify a suspect. DNA from Garcia's father was a close match to the DNA found at the crime scene. Further investigation led police to Garcia, according to reports when he was arrested.

Gilman, who is sharing the prosecution with Jeff Rosell, didn't get into the specifics linking the DNA to Garcia in his opening statement. However, he tried to show how rare the DNA was and how unlikely that it could be from any other suspect. 

He told the jury that if there were 7 billion people on Earth, it would take 23 Earths worth of people before there was a chance of another match. He added that the number was a one in 23 quintillion chance, or a number that was a 23 with 18 zeros after it. He drew the zeros on a board in Judge Timothy Volkmann's courtroom to accent the claim, a technique that couldn't help but recall the verdict in the first OJ Simpson case, in which a jury failed to convict because they didn't understand how conclusive DNA evidence was.

Several DNA experts are expected to testify in the trial, which could last as long as three weeks. Garcia is charged with more than seven felonies for the kidnaping and rape of the employee. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Gilman revealed a new fact in the case, that Garcia lived a "stone's throw" from the victim and from his window, he could see into hers. 

Garcia's attorney James Reilly made no opening statement and didn't cross-examine the first witness, Santa Cruz Police officer David Emigh (pronounced Amy), who was the first to arrive at the scene of the dark, morning attack.

In a bizarre twist, the entire eight-officer Harbor Police department was off for the week for training in San Jose. The coffee shop is in sight of the police station and there is usually a police car around, but there wasn't that morning. A department manager declined to pay overtime for an officer to stay behind.