By Aaron Burgin : The Porterville Recorder
VISALIA — A Superior Court judge sentenced a Porterville man to 64 months in prison Thursday morning, primarily for his role in the kidnapping, assault and rape of a Fresno woman over a three-day period in October.

Benito “Benny” Munoz, 37, showed little emotion as Judge Patrick O’Hara sentenced him to four years for the sexual assault and an additional 16 months for a 2006 spousal-abuse charge.

O’Hara handed down the sentence after a statement prepared by the victim was read by an advocate. The victim, a 25-year-old Web page designer and computer builder, described how the ordeal has scarred her, calling the fear she still feels as “unimaginable.” “They have left a hollow shell of what was a confident, caring and trusting person,” the victim wrote. “It [the ordeal] continues to haunt my nightmares to this day. I have considered suicide on several occasions.”

A jury convicted Munoz on June 6 of felony assault with intent to rape in the bizarre ordeal that concluded Oct. 10, when the victim passed a note to a Save Mart employee alerting the employee of the situation. The jury, however, spared Munoz from a more serious rape charge, which combined Thursday with a favorable ruling on a prior conviction, significantly reduced the maximum sentence he could receive. Munoz faced a maximum 12-year sentence prior to Thursday’s ruling.

Munoz will likely only serve three-and-a-half years of the sentence when credited for time served and an automatic 15 percent sentence reduction. His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Sylvia Hanna, reiterated Munoz’s claims of innocence. “I am disappointed by the verdict and am still planning to appeal it,” Hanna said after the sentencing. “We still believe that he did not do anything wrong, therefore the sentence was inappropriate.”

The ordeal began Oct. 8 when Robert Gracia, 35, brought the victim and two other women from a Tulare homeless shelter to Munoz’s home in the 1000 block of North Wisconson Way. Gracia, the primary accoster, hog-tied the woman with her own shoelaces, physically assaulted her and forced the victim to perform sexual acts on him and others for drugs and money. Munoz reportedly had sex with the woman Oct. 9 after Gracia ordered her to perform the sex acts. Gracia, who faces 150 years to life in prison for his role in the case, will be sentenced Friday morning.

O’Hara first ruled Thursday that a prior 1997 conviction for spousal abuse was not a strike offense. Had he ruled otherwise, any sentence Munoz received Thursday would have been doubled. Next, O’Hara denied a request from Clark Hiddleston, Munoz’s attorney for the 2006 spousal abuse case, to have his spousal-abuse sentence run concurrent with his sexual-assault sentence.

Munoz’s wife, Veronica Munoz, also implored O’Hara for leniency, reading a statement from her and the couple’s 9-year-old son expressing the need for Munoz to be released as soon as possible. She said that she and Benito Munoz reconciled their differences. “Despite what happens, I stand by my husband until the day he comes home,” Veronica Munoz said.

Then, victim advocate Christine Barker read the victim’s statement, in which she described how the ordeal has changed her life. O’Hara decided the Tulare County Probation Department’s recommendation that Benito Munoz receive the mid-term, four-year sentence for the assault was acceptable. The maximum sentence, without the strike enhancements, is six years.

Hanna lobbied for a two-year sentence, arguing that her client’s role in the October ordeal was minimal. In determining the sentence, O’Hara pointed to a number of factors, including Benito Munoz’s extensive criminal record which includes stints in both jail and state prison for domestic violence and abuse-related charges.

O’Hara also ordered Benito Munoz to pay for any of the victim’s future medical and psychological expenses. Prosecutor Onu Omordia said she believed the sentence was appropriate. “He will be adequately punished for his actions in a crime that has forever altered the life of a young woman,” Omordia said.

Contact Aaron Burgin at 784-5000, Ext. 1046, or aburgin@portervillerecorder.com.