LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A Northshore man convicted in April of several sexual assault counts is set to get a new trial.
On Aug. 15, Judge Andrew Blum granted the new trial motion for Antonio Thomas Magalhaes, 36, of Nice, said Deputy District Attorney Rich Watson.
Magalhaes was arrested in August 2020 and charged with assaulting two victims, one over the course of for six months, from September 2018 to March 2019, breaking into her home and raping her, and also raping a second woman in December 2019.
In April, a jury convicted Magalhaes of seven separate crimes: assault with intent to commit sodomy while committing a first degree burglary; sodomy by force; forcible rape; first degree burglary; rape of an intoxicated person; rape of an unconscious person; and domestic violence involving corporal injury.
He was set to be sentenced in July, at which time he was facing a maximum period of 38 years to life in prison.
However, at that point his attorney filed a motion for a new trial.
During the Aug. 15 hearing, Judge Blum granted Magalhaes a new trial because of evidentiary issues in the case, including a witness not returning to complete her testimony on cross examination, Watson said.
Watson said Magalhaes’ case is scheduled for further proceedings on Sept. 20 and is set for a new trial on Oct. 12.
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