Six months after a former UC Santa Barbara student was convicted of sexually assaulting two women and attempted to flee from Sheriff’s Office custody, a judge will decide if he gets a new trial on Thursday.
Arian Eteghaei, 23, was convicted in January of sexual penetration with a foreign object and domestic-violence battery against an ex-girlfriend, identified in court as Jane Doe H.O.C.; and forcible rape against a woman identified as Jane Doe M.E.
He also now faces a felony charge of escape by force or violence after he fled from the Figueroa Courthouse following his conviction. He has pleaded not guilty to the escape charge.
Since his conviction, Eteghaei has retained new attorneys and is seeking a retrial. Judge Von Deroian will consider the motion on Thursday.
Eteghaei’s mother, Mitra Zade, remains banned from the courthouse after she yelled at prosecutors and investigators from across the street, and accused the court of corruption following the guilty verdict.
She will be allowed to watch the tentative sentencing hearing scheduled for Aug. 10 on Zoom, Deroian ruled earlier this week.
Eteghaei, who was a freshman at UCSB in 2020-21, was arrested and criminally charged in August 2021 for alleged assaults on three women.
During the investigation, three more women came forward and reported they had been assaulted by Eteghaei, according to authorities.
Each alleged victim was identified anonymously as Jane Doe plus initials. Many of them testified against him in court during the trial.
