Riggs is being paid to defend Barrera by the Mexican Consulate. The consulate will sometimes provide funds for legal representation for their citizens if they believe there's the possibility of a miscarriage of justice, Riggs said.

Man indicted for raping alleged prostitute

By Gayle Deaton/Sentinel-News Staff Writer - Friday, September 14, 2007 9:57 AM EDT

A 47-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico has been indicted for raping a woman he claims is a prostitute.

Marciano Barrera, of Shelbyville, was arrested in July when Shelby County Sheriff's deputies traced a license plate number to his address. A 41-year-old woman told the deputies she managed to get a permanent marker and write the license plate number of her attacker's car on her hand as well as place marks on the perpetrator while he was attacking her.

Shelby County Sheriff's Detective Jason Rice said the license number led them to Barrera's home. Marks from a permanent marker were also found on Barrera's person which helped identify him as the alleged perpetrator. Barrera was arrested and charged with first-degree rape and taken to the Shelby County Detention Center. He is currently under a detainer through Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE).

However, Barrera's defense attorney, Nathan Riggs, challenged the first-degree rape charge in a preliminary hearing. Riggs said that Barrerra had made an oral contract for sexual services when the two met at a convenience store in the Newburg area of Louisville.

Riggs said it should not constitute first-degree rape when the woman was allegedly agreeable to sex for money in the Newburg area and later claimed she was raped when driven to a field on a Shelby County farm.

Rice confirmed the woman met Barrera in Louisville and said she was under the impression they were going to drive around the block or not far from the store. But the woman told sheriff's deputies Barrera hit the highway and refused to let her out of the car before stopping in a field on KY-148. The victim told sheriff's deputies she jumped from the car, Rice said, and wrote the license plate number on her hand as she ran out into the field. She said that's when Barrera chased her down and raped her in the field.

District Judge Linda Armstrong found in favor of the prosecution at the preliminary hearing saying cause had been established that the victim withdrew her consent. Armstrong waived the case on to the grand jury which indicted Barrera Sept. 5.

Riggs said he's since talked to his client who maintains the sex was consensual and that he paid the woman $20.

Riggs said his client also claims the woman gave him oral sex the entire time they were in the vehicle driving to the farm where she claims she was raped.

Barrera said the woman asked him for cocaine, Riggs said, and when it became apparent he didn't have any, that's when she claimed the sex wasn't consensual.

Rice said the victim reported that no money was exchanged and she withdrew her consent when they were inside the vehicle and she tried to escape.

"The bottom line is according to our investigation, the female did not want to have sex with that male and it was forced upon her," Rice said. "It's a crime against the victim, not the profession."

Riggs is being paid to defend Barrera by the Mexican Consulate. The consulate will sometimes provide funds for legal representation for their citizens if they believe there's the possibility of a miscarriage of justice, Riggs said.

Barrera is tentatively scheduled to be arraigned on the rape charge in Shelby Circuit Court Monday Sept. 24.

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