A state appellate court panel on Monday upheld a Sylmar-area man’s conviction for sexually assaulting two women a day apart in 2019.
Aaron Clark, now 46, is serving a potential life prison sentence stemming from his conviction on two counts of forcible oral copulation and one count each of rape and kidnapping to commit another crime.
In a 20-page ruling, the three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal noted that “the evidence of appellant’s guilt was overwhelming.”
Clark was arrested after the women — who had driven to his home one day apart — reported the attacks on April 13, 2019, and April 14, 2019, to police.
“Both victims repeatedly identified appellant as the perpetrator and gave consistent and detailed testimony regarding the crimes,” the panel noted in its 20-page ruling, adding that their testimony was corroborated by DNA evidence found on Clark and the victims.
The appellate court panel noted that Clark testified in his own defense that he did not remember any of the events involving the victims because he was on methamphetamine, but said that he “didn’t do this crime.”
Jurors also heard evidence that Clark had previously been convicted of rape and child molestation — with the latter case involving a victim who testified about the defendant asking her multiple times to go to a hotel when she was 10 years old, according to the ruling.