After less than three hours of deliberations, a jury on June 15 convicted a man of kidnapping and raping a Pacific Beach woman, who was also a German exchange student.
The 21-year-old victim returned to Germany within a week after the Jan. 1, 2016 incident and declined to return to testify in the trial of Jacob Paul Skorniak, 51, who was found guilty of all charges.
Skorniak, of Colorado, faces a maximum prison term of 81 years to life for his convictions of rape at knifepoint, kidnapping for rape at knifepoint, and digital penetration of an unconscious person.
Though the seven-man, five-woman jury didn’t see the victim testify, her words to police officers and hospital officials were introduced as evidence through those witnesses.
She underwent a rape exam in a hospital, and Skorniak’s DNA was found in her body with the results told to the jury.
“She didn’t want to re-live it (in court),” said Deputy District Attorney Lisa Fox. “She moved on.”
Skorniak’s attorney, Kristin Scogin, made the victim’s absence an issue, saying in her closing argument “we’re left with a lot of confusion.” Scogin said the jury only heard “a fraction of the story.”
Her friends testified she became ill after drinking alcohol and requested to return home to Pacific Beach on Dec. 31 in an Uber. The Uber driver testified she dropped her passport in the car and he gave it back to her.
The driver pulled over two blocks from her apartment so she could throw up outside, and he said she insisted on walking the rest of the way on Sapphire Street by herself. She also dropped her passport again, which someone found and later returned it.
How the woman ended up in Skorniak’s pick-up truck for three hours and where they went is not known.
“She’s not here to explain any of this. There’s a lot of gaps,” argued Scogin, who said the victim was in an “alcoholic blackout.”
In rebuttal, the prosecutor told jurors there was no requirement for the victim to testify and it was Skorniak, not the victim, who was on trial. Fox urged jurors to not be “distracted by red herrings” posed by the defense.
Skorniak testified she voluntarily got into his vehicle and they had consensual sex. He did admit to cutting some of her clothing off with a knife and part of her clothing was found in the pick-up weeks later.
“He admits having sex with her because his DNA is inside her,” argued Fox.
Skorniak testified he returned to Pacific Beach and dropped her off several blocks from her home. He was arrested in Santa Barbara three weeks later. A short video he took with a camera was discovered in the truck that depicted digital penetration, which was presented to the jury.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Runston Maino ordered Skorniak to next appear in court on July 12 for a non-jury trial before him to determine if his prior convictions are valid.
Court records say he was convicted of robbery in Utah in 1995 and burglary in Nebraska in 1986. Maino will set a sentencing date after he determines if those prior convictions are valid, which could add years to the sentence.
Another key witness in the case was a service station worker who testified the victim motioned for him to come over to the truck while Skorniak was using the restroom. He testified the victim said she was kidnapped and asked for his help.
He said she didn’t get out of the vehicle and Skorniak returned and drove off with her. He wrote the license plate number down and called 911.
Also testifying was the woman’s father who came over from Germany. During the assault, her cellphone dialed her parents and he could hear his daughter telling a man to leave her alone and to take whatever money she had.
The phone went dead, but the family notified the women with whom she went out with on Dec. 31, and they also called police. The woman was attending San Diego State University when the crime occurred. Jury selection began June 5. Skorniak remains in jail without bail.