A lenient California judge has allowed a man who pleaded no contest to groping a mother and then smashing her face with a rock to avoid jail time because of marijuana use and mental health issues at the time of the attack.
Trevor Lee Colombano, 38, faced up to nine years in state prison and an additional 18 months in county jail after he pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon, sexual battery, and mayhem, KRON4 reported. Instead, Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Dana Simonds sentenced him to just four years of probation for the attack, which occurred on October 30, 2023.
Colombano’s attack left a mother, who has not been identified, permanently disfigured. Prosecutors said the victim left her home in Santa Rosa with her 13-year-old daughter, 13-year-old cousin, and the family dog. Shortly after leaving her apartment, Colombano approached the woman from behind and pressed up against her. When the mother tried to get away, Colombano began punching her in the head and grabbed a rock, which he used to repeatedly bash her in the face. He also ripped off the woman’s shirt and bra during the attack. Two bystanders managed to pull Colombano off the victim and hold him until the Santa Rosa Police Department arrived. The attack has left the victim permanently disfigured.
“I have cried more in the last six months than I have in my entire lifetime,” the mother said during Colombano’s sentencing, according to KRON. “My daughter and my little cousin, both thirteen at the time, had to witness the whole thing … I cannot even put into words the feeling of not being able to protect yourself or your child at the same time.”
The Sonoma County Probation Department had recommended a prison sentence for Colombano, saying he “is statutorily limited from receiving probation and we cannot, even after much effort considering the complexities, favorable, and mitigating factors involved in this case, identify any factors that mark this matter an unusual case for probation consideration.”
But Simonds disregarded the recommendation and sentenced Colombano to only probation, saying his mental health issues, as well as his marijuana consumption and stress level were contributing factors in the attack.
“Justice was not served in this case,” Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez said in a statement after the sentencing. “This woman will be permanently scarred for the rest of her life, both physically and emotionally. Her daughter and niece’s sense of safety and well-being will never be the same. Mr. Colombano is a menace to public safety, period, and should be sitting in prison.”
It is not the first time Judge Simonds has allowed a dangerous offender to avoid prison time. In February 2024, she overruled the prosecutor’s objections to sentence a repeat felony DUI offender to probation, the DA’s office said at the time.
Juan Garnica Vigil was convicted of DUI five times. On his fourth conviction, instead of jail time, Simonds sentenced him to probation. Vigil was then convicted of DUI a fifth time, but again Simonds only sentenced him to probation.
