Alleged victim testifies in Tony Zendejas rape trial

The woman who accuses former NFL place-kicker Tony Zendejas of raping her testified Thursday that in the hours after Zendejas served her two mixed drinks at his San Dimas restaurant, she was left in a zombie-like state, then blacked out.

The next morning, she woke up naked and alone in a hotel room, with physical symptoms prosecutors say are consistent with rape.

Thursday was the first day of testimony in the Pomona Superior Court rape trial of Zendejas, a 48-year-old former Los Angeles Ram.

Zendejas has pleaded not guilty to four felonies filed by prosecutors, who allege he drugged the woman on Jan. 25, 2008 at Zendejas Mexican Restaurant, then raped and sodomized her at a nearby Red Roof Inn.

"It started out like any weekend evening, but it ended in betrayal," Deputy District Attorney Rouman Ebrahim told jurors during his opening statement Thursday.

When the alleged victim visited the restaurant in April 2008, Zendejas told her, ""I knocked you out. I had to knock you out," in response to the woman's questions about what happened in January, Ebrahim told the jury.

Zendejas's lead defense attorney, James Reiss, said in his opening statement that Zendejas did not drug the woman, and said the sex they had last year was consensual.

He characterized Zendejas' conduct after the sex as "ridiculous" because he left the hotel room without saying goodbye, and failed to return messages from the woman. But Zendejas' behavior was "not criminal," Reiss said.

Reiss implied the alleged victim wanted a relationship with Zendejas, and felt hurt after their encounter.

"This is simply an issue of rejection, of disrespect, of classless, boorish behavior," Reiss said.

The alleged victim, who described herself on the witness stand as a divorced, in her mid-40s, with two adult children, said she went to Zendejas Mexican Restaurant on Jan. 25, 2008 to meet a friend who was there to celebrate a relative's birthday.

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The woman said she and her friend had visited Zendejas' restaurant on a weekly basis since November 2007, and had become acquainted with Tony Zendejas, who owns the restaurant and was often there when they visited.

The woman testified that she felt fine when she got to the restaurant, located at 665 W. Arrow Hwy., at about 8 p.m.

She had only half a beer the entire night, she testified, and also drank two small mixed drinks that Zendejas served to her - one at about 9:15 p.m. and one at 10 p.m.

She testified that the drinks made her feel uncoordinated, later in the night put her in a "zombie-like state," and ultimately caused her to black out and lose her memory of the evening after 11:30 or 11:40.

She said she felt "numb, just paralyzed. It was a feeling I had never felt before."

Between 11:30 or 11:40 and the time she woke up the next day at about 5 a.m., she said she has only three flashes of memory:

-- Sitting in the passenger seat of a car with black leather interior - not her own car - and seeing a figure to her left she believes was Zendejas.

-- Standing in a hotel lobby with Zendejas.

-- Standing in a hotel room with Zendejas.

The next morning she woke up alone and said she could tell from the way her body felt that she had had sex. She knew instinctually that it was Tony Zendejas she had slept with, she testified.

Later in the day, after consulting a rape counselor, she contacted Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and was examined for sexual assault at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center.

A physician there found that the woman suffered a large anal tear consistent with rape, Ebrahim said in his opening statement.

During his cross-examination of the woman, Reiss focused primarily on a series of e-mails sent between the woman and Zendejas between November 2007 and January 2008.

Reiss attempted to characterize the e-mails as flirtatious, filled with sexual innuendo. The woman denied that she was flirting with Zendejas, and testified that she had no romantic interest in the former football player.

Reiss told the jury during his opening statement that the woman had been seeking a lawyer to sue Zendejas civilly. The woman denied that she had contacted an attorney when asked by Reiss during his cross-examination.

The only other witness to testify Thursday was a toxicologist, Cyrus Rangan, who said the woman's symptoms, as she described them, are consistent with GHB or a similar date-rape drug.

He also said that negative drug tests of the woman are not inconsistent with drugging because GHB and similar drugs will leave the system before 12 hours - the amount of time that passed before the woman was tested.

Ebrahim said he expects to call as witnesses today the physician who examined the alleged victim, and a sheriff's detective who went undercover in April when the alleged went back to Zendejas Mexican Restaurant and recorded Zendejas saying, "I knocked you out" and "I took that booty."

Erahim said he expects to rest his case today.

Reiss said Zendejas will testify during the trial, likely on Monday or Tuesday.

Click here for past stories on Zendejas' case.