Dodge man will face allegations of rape
By Eric Swanson
Dodge City Daily Globe
Dodge City resident Everardo Munoz-Sandoval's ex-wife alleges that he
raped her on several occasions between 2003 and 2006, including an alleged sexual assault on Sept. 10, 2006.
But the woman also acknowledged that the couple frequently had consensual sex during that three-year period until the summer of 2006, when she told him that she wanted a separation. After that, she said, they did not have consensual sex again.
Munoz-Sandoval was bound over for trial Tuesday on one count of rape stemming from his former wife's allegations that he assaulted her on Sept. 10, 2006. His trial date has not been set yet.
The Globe does not publish the names of possible sexual-assault victims, and it normally does not publish other information that might identify them. Given the circumstances of this case, however, the newspaper is identifying the woman as Munoz-Sandoval's former wife.
An allegation of rape
Speaking through an interpreter, the woman said that her husband asked her for sex the night of Sept. 10, 2006. But she said she told him she didn't want anything to do with that.
She said after she rejected his overtures, he removed her clothes and had sex with her.
Assistant Ford County Attorney Travis Harrod asked the woman, "Did you tell him 'no' that night?"
She replied, "Yes, at the moment that he asked me."
Harrod then asked her, "When Mr. Munoz-Sandoval started to have sex with you, did you try to resist him in any way?"
The woman said, "No, I did not do any resistance."
She said she was tired and afraid that her husband might turn violent if she tried to resist, because he had been violent with her before.
The woman described a pattern between 2003 and 2006 in which she and her husband had consensual sex several times a month, but there were other times when he forced her to have sex even though she told him "No."
She said they stopped having consensual sex in late August 2006, after she told Munoz-Sandoval that she wanted a separation.
She said she continued to share a bed with Munoz-Sandoval even after she told him she wanted a divorce.
Harrod later asked the woman why she had continued sleeping with her husband.
She said she continued sleeping with Munoz-Sandoval in part because the house belonged to her. She also said she couldn't sleep anywhere else, and he didn't want to sleep somewhere else.
Immigration status
Under cross-examination, the woman acknowledged that she was in the United States illegally and that federal authorities were aware of her status.
Munoz-Sandoval's attorney, Philip White, later asked the woman if her deportation proceedings were delayed because of the rape allegations.
The woman said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had no information about the case.
White then said, "Are you telling this court that you have not told any agent of ICE of the allegations against your husband?"
The woman said, "No."
Harrod later asked the woman if she had a U visa, which is available to noncitizens who are either victims of a crime or witnesses in an investigation. The woman said she did not have a U visa, but an employee with the Crisis Center of Dodge City was helping her apply for one.
The woman acknowledged telling the Crisis Center employee about the rape allegation.
Medical testimony
The only other witness to testify Tuesday was John Thompson, director of intensive services for Western Plains Medical Complex and coordinator of the sexual assault nurse examiner/sexual assault response team program.
Thompso said he examined Munoz-Sandoval's former wife on Sept. 12, 2006, and found several bruises, abrasions and lacerations on her body. He said the woman, who spoke through an interpreter, told him that her husband forced her to have sex, even though she repeatedly rejected his overtures.
Thompson said the woman's injuries were consistent with a sexual assault.
Under cross-examination, Thompson said his findings were based on what he saw and what the woman had told him.
Attorney White then said, "So the fact of the matter is this: Whether it was consensual or not, you don't know."
Thompson said, "That's correct."
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