Illegal immigrant to be tried for attempted murder, assault

By Jose Luis Jimenez
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

5:47 p.m. September 19, 2007

EL CAJON – Raul Yepez Jimenez approached a woman he'd never met on an El Cajon street, held her at gunpoint, and groped and attacked her, according to testimony in a Superior Court hearing Wednesday.

The woman resisted and screamed, which drew the attention of some nearby police officers. The attack ended when Jimenez pointed a .38-caliber revolver at El Cajon Police Officer Mark Bevan, who shot him twice in the abdomen, Bevan testified.

When asked by police why he assaulted the woman, Jimenez, 31, said he wanted companionship and he snickered, an investigator testified.

At the end of Wednesday's hearing, the judge ruled the prosecution had presented enough evidence for Jimenez to be tried for attempted murder of a police officer, assault with intent to commit rape and other assault charges. If convicted, the illegal immigrant faces a maximum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole, said prosecutor Renee Palermo.

Jimenez's defense attorney, Deputy Public Defender Karen Hirr, declined to comment about the case. During the hearing, Hirr suggested her client did not know he shot at an officer because Bevan never identified himself as a policeman.

Bevan was in uniform at the time, according to testimony.

The attack happened around 2 a.m. June 28. As the woman returned from buying ice cream at a convenience store, she was confronted by Jimenez in front of an apartment building on Washington Street near Emerald Avenue.

The woman, a 38-year-old home health care worker, told police Jimenez had a gun in his waistband, reeked of alcohol and groped her, Detective Robert Berger testified.

Bevan and two other officers were leaving the apartment building after investigating a fight between siblings when they happened upon the attack near their patrol cars, Bevan testified.

“She was actively pulling away from him,â€