Kaitlyn Kanzler, Staff Writer Published 1:39 p.m. ET Jan. 19, 2018

An undocumented immigrant will be granted a new trial after the state Supreme Court overturned his conviction of sexual assault against three women.

On Thursday, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner handed down the unanimous decision to grant Alexis Sanchez-Medina, a Bergenfield day laborer and Honduras native, a new trial after it was determined that jurors should have been instructed to ignore Sanchez-Medina's immigration status and their lack of guidance regarding only one of the victims being able to identify him.

Sanchez-Medina was sentenced to 18 1/2 years in prison on April 14, 2014 for the 2012 assaults. From July 27 to Aug. 10, 2012, Sanchez-Medina was believed to have stalked, assaulted or attempted to sexually assault four women as they were going to or coming from their homes. The victims were only identified by their initials in the court's written decision.

The first victim and only one to identify Sanchez-Medina, was walking in Englewood with her small son when she was grabbed on her buttocks and knocked to the ground. She later told police she had gotten a clear look at her assailant as he circled her on a bicycle. The second victim stepped outside her home in Englewood to investigate sounds coming from her air conditioner and was thrown to the ground by a man who put his hand inside her pants.


The third and fourth attacks occurred on the same day in Dumont. One woman was grabbed as she walked to her home and was able to break free. The other was returning to her apartment after throwing out her garbage when she was grabbed from behind, thrown to the ground and sexually assaulted.

"No forensic evidence linked defendant to the crimes charged, and no other witnesses observed or could corroborate any of the incidents," Rabner wrote in the decision.

The description of the suspect varied with two of the victims telling of a man with a pony tail, one victim saying he had short hair and the fourth didn't describe what the suspect looked like. Out of the four, only two identified his race, one said he was a Hispanic man while the other said he was either a light-skinned African American or Hispanic man. Rabner also wrote that the modus operandi was not consistent in how the women were assaulted.

During the course of his interrogation, Sanchez-Medina denied any wrongdoing but "made certain admissions," Rabner wrote. Sanchez-Medina recanted his statements during the trial.

"Because no one referred to the victims by name, some of defendant’s comments cannot be readily matched to particular victims," Rabner wrote.

https://www.northjersey.com/story/ne...al/1048347001/