CHP officer charged with sex crimes seeks to have case dismissed

A California Highway Patrol officer accused of sexually molesting a 10-year-old girl plans to ask a judge to throw out the case against him.

Gilbert Gutierrez, 38, has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child.

Gutierrez was indicted in January after a grand jury hearing. The allegations center around a slumber party July 21 at his home in Merced County. He is accused of pulling the child’s pants down and touching her inappropriately, according to Merced County Sheriff’s Office reports obtained by the Merced Sun-Star.

Gutierrez appeared briefly Friday in Merced Superior Court.

Defense attorney Brian Andritch informed Judge Ronald W. Hansen of plans to file a motion to dismiss the case. Hansen ordered both sides to return to court April 18 to argue the motion.

The motion to dismiss had not been filed with the court as of Friday afternoon, according to Katie Gates, the Merced County deputy district attorney prosecuting the case.

It was unclear Friday on what grounds the defense plans to challenge the evidence in the indictment. Andritch did not respond to multiple telephone messages left at his office.

He has previously said Gutierrez is “absolutely maintaining his innocence.”

According to documents obtained by the Sun-Star, Gutierrez and his family were hosting a party July 21 with around two dozen people or more, including children. Gutierrez acknowledged drinking heavily that night and making himself sick, the reports say.

During the night, Gutierrez entered the room where multiple children were in bed. The alleged victim claims Gutierrez tried twice to pull her pants down and touched her. Gutierrez denied touching the girl in any inappropriate manner, according to the reports.

Gutierrez said he was in the room where the children were sleeping playing video games with a headset, reports say.

While Gutierrez has strenuously maintained his innocence in the case, he “admitted that he put himself in a bad situation by drinking and being in (the) bedroom that night,” the report says.

He told investigators he did not know why the girl made the allegations.

Prosecutors in the case took the unusual step of presenting the evidence against Gutierrez to a grand jury, avoiding the more typical preliminary hearing. The grand jury process is conducted behind closed doors while a preliminary hearing is held in open court.

Prosecutors have said they wanted to avoid having the victim testify about the case in public. Andritch has previously described that reasoning as “disingenuous.” He noted the victim would not have been required to testify during a preliminary hearing and that an investigator could have described her statements to the court.

Gutierrez has been a CHP officer for six years and was assigned to the Merced office in 2013. He has been limited to administrative duties pending the outcome of the case, CHP Officer Moises Onsurez said.

If convicted, Gutierrez faces up to 16 years in state prison.

He remains free on bail.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 5:30 PM with the headline "CHP officer charged with sex crimes seeks to have case dismissed."