Jurors began deliberating the fate of a Georgia man charged with killing a Santa Maria woman in 1988 after DNA connected him to the victim and her home, although his attorney argued that it didn’t prove that Aloysius Winthrop James committed the crime. 

James, 58, of Georgia has been charged in connection with the death of Ofelia Sandoval, a mother of three, at the Town Center Hotel on the 200 block of North Broadway on Sept. 18, 1988. The hotel was demolished after being severely damaged in a 2013 fire.

After closing arguments, the Santa Barbara County Superior Court jury began weighing whether enough evidence exists to convict James of first-degree murder. He also faces a special circumstance, or sentencing enhancement, that the killing occurred during the commission of a rape. 

Senior Deputy District Attorney Ann Bramsen noted that DNA results from a vaginal swab and T-shirt between the victim’s legs connected the defendant to the room and the 30-year-old woman.

“This is no longer an unsolved cold case,” Bramsen said. “Ofelia Sandoval was raped and murdered by Aloysius James.”

Bramsen contented that James lied to law enforcement officers in 1988 and again in 2024. The prosecuting attorney said the false and misleading statements by James included his denials of being in the room or having sexual contact with Sandoval. 

During a recorded interview in 2024, James told investigators, “I was not in that room, not on her,” denying having contact with her in any way. 

“Your DNA was in that room. Your DNA was on her,” said Santa Maria Police Detective Matthew Silver, who traveled with District Attorney’s Office investigator Ronnie Murillo to Georgia two years ago. 

“No, there’s no way,” James said.

Testing connected James as a contributor for 40% of the DNA found during the vaginal swab.

“Science doesn’t lie, but people do,” Bramsen said. 

She also pointed to the testimony of a woman who recalled, as a young girl in the 1990s in Southern California, testifying about James sexually assaulting her as a seventh-grader and seeing the defendant strangling her mom. 

“She runs inside and what does she see? Virtually the same thing happened to Ofelia is what she described,” Bramsen said. 

A day after a forensic pathologist testified that the strangulation most likely had taken more than a minute, Bramsen paused for 30 seconds, then waited for another 30 seconds while pacing in front of the jurors.

“The was only one minute,” she said to drive home the length of time needed to strangle Sandoval. “If that was not willful, deliberate, premeditated intent to kill, I don’t know what is.”

Defense attorney Robert “Bob” Sanger said the evidence showed that James had sexual contact with Sandoval, but nothing else.

“We do not have evidence of who killed her,” Sanger said. “That’s the fundamental issue the jury has to look at.”

Throughout the trial, Sanger tried to place blame on men identified as a boyfriend and a roommate.

“You have to decide whether or not the case is proven,” said Sanger, who was assisted by co-counsel Jessica Talavera. 

He also pointed to individual members of the Santa Maria Police Department, citing various failures for solving the case, including losing a fabric belt that could have been used in the strangulation.

“This case did not go cold,” Sanger said, contending that the police weren’t persistent in trying to solve the case because it occurred in what he called a flop house. 

“She also wasn’t afforded much respect back in 1998,” Sanger said. “The case didn’t go cold. It was dropped really after three or four weeks.”

By January 1989, police documents show the case had been labeled “no further investigation,” and it sat for 11 years without any further action, Sanger said. 

While noting the tragic case involving a vicious murder, Sanger called for jurors to consider the evidence.

“The only reasonable conclusion to draw from the evidence of the case is that it has not been proven Mr. James did that,” Sanger said, adding that the only rational conclusion would be to find the defendant not guilty. 

The age of the case meant that many of the witnesses have retired from their law enforcement jobs. Others weren’t available because of death or illness. 

For one former police officer, jurors saw a conditional exam, or recorded interview, conducted by the attorneys with the judge before Willam “Bill” Spears died last fall. 

The jury of 10 men and two women heard opening statements in the trial Jan. 22 after several weeks of jury selection, with the proceedings wrapping up sooner than initially estimated.

James, who now uses a wheelchair, remains in the custody of the Santa Barbara County Jail.