VENTURA : Man, 24, Faces Trial in Attack on Girl, 14

A 24-year-old Ventura man was ordered to Superior Court on Monday after a judge ruled there is sufficient evidence to try him on charges of attempted murder and the rape of a 14-year-old girl.

Dallas Keith Carter, his girlfriend, and the 14-year-old girl attended a party on the evening of April 21, but Carter left early with the 14-year-old, said Stephanie Palmer, Carter’s girlfriend.

Palmer said the girl “looked beat up” by the time Palmer saw her again, about 3 o’clock the next morning.

The girl had been strangled unconscious and then raped, Ventura Police Officer John Rodriguez testified.

Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom in May asked that his client undergo a psychiatric evaluation, saying Carter said he talked to the devil and heard voices. Carter was found competent to stand trial.

On Monday, Windom asked Palmer whether she thought Carter acted strangely on April 21.

Palmer said she did not see such behavior the night of the alleged attack, but said she had in the past, “usually when he was upset.”

Municipal Judge John R. Smiley said there was no evidence to hold Carter on a charge of robbery. Prosecutors had charged Carter with robbery after he allegedly took the victim’s purse. But Carter will stand trial on charges of attempted murder and rape, he said.

Arraignment before Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch is scheduled for Aug. 2.