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98 Chapter Nine Back Home in San Diego An Unusual Rape Case  San Diego seemed quiet compared with Los Angeles. Prosecutors and staff in my office, judges, and other lawyers were extremely supportive. The assistant district attorney, Greg Thompson , asked me what I wanted to do after the ordeal of the Simpson case. Thompson was the former number-two prosecutor in the Los Angeles district attorney’s office in the late 1980s and had been enlisted by District Attorney Paul Pfingst to take the same position in San Diego when Pfingst was elected in 1994. Thompson said he already had a slot in our felony-trial division waiting for me. The cases ranged from drug sales to robbery, burglary, and even sex cases. DNA, thankfully, was taking a back seat in my career for at least a little while. But early in 1996 I was asked to prosecute an unusual rape case. Detective Norma Dormann of the San Diego Police Department came to my office while the victim sat in our reception area. Dormann, a sex-crimes investigator, prepared me for what she said at the outset was an odd case. First, the victim was an eighty-five-year-old woman. Uncommon, but not that unusual, I thought to myself. Second, the suspect was in his forties. That was more peculiar. The rape of an elderly victim by a young man is not extraordinary . But the same attack by a forty-six-year-old man is rare. Dormann went over the facts with me as the victim had already described them to her. We then walked out to the reception room. She introduced me to the victim, who was named Addie. Addie moved a little slowly and used a walker to get around because of arthritis, but she showed the graciousness of a woman who had lived most of her life in the South. Her accent reminded me of Tennessee, but she was probably from Virginia or the Carolinas. I invited her into my office. R4400.indb 98 R4400.indb 98 8/24/07 11:46:34 AM 8/24/07 11:46:34 AM 99 Back Home in San Diego We all sat down and chatted about the weather and a few other easy topics. We turned to the case and the suspect, Stephen Nocilla. Sexual-assault victims aren’t easy to pigeonhole. Although some are extremely emotional about what they have been through—and understandably so—most victims in my experience are able to calmly recount their ordeals. Addie defied any previous experience. It must be something about having seen that much life. Addie didn’t have to vamp anyone. She knew what had happened to her and wasn’t about to clam up. The facts of her case were as unusual as Addie was herself. She lived in an apartment in the Golden Hill area, a popular, improving area of San Diego a stone’s throw from downtown. One morning in January she was downtown for an appointment with her dentist. After her dental visit, Addie started toward the Woolworth’s store on Broadway. While she was standing on the sidewalk with her walker, Addie began to feel faint and started to fall. A middle-aged man threw his arms around her and kept her from falling to the sidewalk. Commendable—here was a gentleman helping an elderly lady in distress. They bought some food at McDonald’s. Addie paid—it was the least she could do as a gesture of appreciation, and besides the man claimed he had no money. His name, Addie found out, was Stephen Nocilla. As they left the restaurant, Nocilla asked Addie where she was going next. Addie told him that she was headed home and was going to flag down a taxi. Nocilla insisted on accompanying her home to make sure she got there safely. He was also adamant that they take the bus. Addie told Nocilla that she was afraid. She hadn’t used the bus in more than three years because of the stairs she would have to climb to board. Nocilla insisted that he would help her with the steps and that they would have no problems getting to her home. The two of them sat on a bench and talked for a few minutes. Nocilla prevailed on Addie, and the two of them took the bus to Addie’s Golden Hill home. Addie and Nocilla walked approximately two blocks from the bus stop to her apartment, a...

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