BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A Kern County jury Tuesday morning found Michael Allen Fontes guilty of raping a Bakersfield woman and leaving her for dead almost 30 years ago.
Fontes, 53, was found guilty of attempted murder and rape. He was found not guilty of kidnapping to commit robbery, but instead convicted of a lesser included charge of simple kidnapping.
The jury found it to be true that Fontes inflicted great bodily injury on the victim, but didn’t find true that he used a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Fontes is facing at least 32 years to life in prison, according to Ken Russell, the prosecutor on this case. His sentencing is set for Dec. 4.
In 2023, Fontes’ first trial ended with jurors acquitting him of sodomy and deadlocking on other counts.
Cari Anderson, the victim, was attacked after she left Buckhorn Bar on Nov. 23, 1997. She survived but suffered permanent injuries.
Anderson died in 2011 at the age of 63. That same year, Fontes was arrested after DNA testing linked him to genetic material left at the crime scene.
Fontes’ attorney, Phillip Gillet, argued Fontes’ DNA being at the scene doesn’t mean he’s the one who attacked Anderson, claiming he had consensual sex with her long before the attack occurred.
Russell said the evidence points squarely at Fontes as the perpetrator and asked the jury to not engage in speculation.
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