January 8, 2009

Bachman found not guilty of kidnapping charges

By Carol Rosen
Editor

In late December, a Santa Clara County judge found Donald Bachman not guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping for sexual purposes and forcibly committing a lewd act on a child.

Bachman, who was arrested two days after running down a 12-year-old Willow Glen girl, putting her into his car and driving around with her before she escaped, pleaded guilty to two counts of auto theft, and Judge Jerome Brock found him guilty of felony hit and run. He will be sentenced on Feb. 20 likely to nearly eight years in jail. Had the judge convicted him of the other charges, he would have been subject to a 35-year sentence.

As the bailiffs led Bachman from the courtroom, the defendant, who had been stoic throughout the trail, had a large smile on his face.

Deputy District Attorney Ray Mendoza appeared shocked by the verdict and told the judge he disagreed with the ruling. However, the defendant’s father, Lance Bachman, was smiling and later told newsmen that he was relieved and hoped his son will get off drugs and turn his life around while in prison.

Neither the victim nor her parents, who have moved out of state, was not in the courtroom. She is now 13.

The accident, which happened on Oct. 8, 2007 near the Walgreen’s store on Almaden Expressway and Koch was watched by the girl’s younger sister who told police she saw a “creepy” man watching her as she and her sister went to the Walgreen’s. After leaving the store, as they were on their way home crossing the street, according to her story, she saw the man in a white Toyota driving at her and her sister who lost consciousness after the car hit her.

The older girl suffered head and pelvic injuries caused by the impact of the car, which then, according to her sister, backed up and scooped up her sister putting her into the car. He then drove about 3 1/2 miles stopping near Jeffrey Fontana Park where the girl said she woke with him trying to remove her clothes. After escaping she went to two homes—one resident was not home and the other refused her entrance, before knocking on the door of Jeffrey Gans’ home where he took her in, helped her clean up and call her mom.

Bachman, his family and his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Charlie Gillan, claimed the defendant was on drugs and was attempting to take the girl to the hospital, but never said why he took her to residential Almaden instead of toward a hospital.

Prior to stating the verdict, Judge Brock told the court he didn’t like Bachman, but felt he had to keep his personal feelings from influencing his judgment. “For some counts, this was a very, very difficult case to decide,” the judge said. “For other counts, it was a very easy case.’’