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What happens when someone is arrested and charged with a crime?
When someone is arrested and charged with a crime, the police follow a protocol that includes reading the Miranda rights.
A Bergen County judge refused to release a Ridgefield man accused of strangling an 11-year-old girl from jail while he awaits trial.
Julio Amaro-Vasquez, 33, was charged with attempted murder, attempted aggravated assault, sexual assault, aggravated assault, attempted sexual assault by contact and endangering the welfare of a child.
On June 26, he appeared before Judge Vincent Militello for a detention hearing. Assistant District Attorney Nicole Paton argued that he should not be released because of the charges against him.
During the hearing, Paton summarized the victim’s statement to police. She said she woke up in her room in the middle of the night and found Amaro-Vasquez there. She did not know how he got there. Amaro-Vasquez is dating the victim’s mother, Marlin Cervantes-Santos, 30, of Fairview. She was also arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
Paton said the victim told police that when Amaro-Vasquez saw him in her room, he threatened her, put his hand over her mouth and began applying pressure to her mouth, causing her to have difficulty breathing.
“At some point during the struggle, as she attempted to pull his hands away, she ended up on the ground,” Paton said. “The defendant joined her on the ground, put his hands around her neck and choked her so hard that she lost consciousness.”
The prosecutor said the victim could not remember what happened while she was unconscious, but when she woke up, she was naked and Amaro-Vasquez was still in her room staring out the window. Paton said the girl was able to escape from her bedroom, where she saw her 13-year-old brother and aunt watching over her. According to Paton, the brother told police he went into his sister’s bedroom after she left it and Amaro-Vasquez was naked there, too.
Paton pointed to photos of the victim and her injuries, noting that the blood vessels in her right eye were “almost completely burst” and that there were cuts on her left cheek and right arm. Paton said Amaro-Vasquez did nothing to help the victim after she lost consciousness and just sat there.
Amaro-Vasquez’s attorney, Aaron Miller, argued that the victim’s injuries do not support an attempted murder charge, but rather amount to a second-degree aggravated assault charge. Miller said despite the allegations, “this circumstance did not occur as alleged.” He said he does not believe there is any evidence that Amaro-Vasquez attempted to kill the girl.
Miller said he believes there are limits the court can set on his client to ensure his attendance in court, despite previous instances of failure to appear several years ago.
Although Miller argued for release, Militello disagreed, saying he gave considerable weight to the victim’s statement to authorities, as well as the testimony of her brother and aunt.
“Why is an 11-year-old naked in a bedroom with a 33-year-old?” asked Militello. “That is very, very strong evidence.”
Amaro-Vasquez has seven days to appeal the judge’s decision. His next court date is July 11.
