A Santa Barbara judge has denied Arian Eteghaei’s request for a new trial and he will be sentenced to prison after his conviction for sexually assaulting two women. 

The 24-year-old former UC Santa Barbara student is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday after a jury found him guilty 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.

The District Attorney’s Office is seeking a sentence of 364 days in jail, immediately followed by 30 years to life in state prison. 

“The defendant is a predator,” the District Attorney’s Office sentencing recommendation read. “He charms women into trusting him and is relentless in his quest for sexual gratification. When Jane Doe H.O.C. and M.E. told the defendant they did not want to have sex with him through both their words and actions, he bluntly ignored them.”

Eteghaei, who was a freshman student 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.  The jury, after deliberating for several weeks, found Eteghaei guilty of some of the allegations and was undecided on other charges.  

Judge Von Deroian decided Thursday to deny a motion for retrial filed by Eteghaei’s attorneys.

“Defendant refuses to take any responsibility for his actions, thereby showing that he has zero insight or empathy into the pain and harm he has caused others,” the sentencing recommendation read. “There is little doubt, defendant would continue his conduct if ever given the chance. He has already left too many vulnerable victims in his wake,” the sentencing recommendation says.

On Thursday, Eteghaei’s attorneys, Michael Artan and Gary Dubcoff, argued for a retrial based on alleged jury misconduct and survivor testimony. 

Artan argued that based on post-trial interviews with the jury, that some of the jurors did not properly disclose their own experiences with sexual assault prior to the trial.

According to court records, one juror discussed their experience during the deliberations to explain why survivors may not report assault to law enforcement or friends and family. 

Other members of the jury shared with each other that their children were victims of attempted assault, according to court records filed by Eteghaei’s attorneys.

Additionally, Eteghaei claims that the day before the verdict, he overheard a juror on the phone outside the courthouse who allegedly said they were contacted by someone that told them to “vote for justice,” according to court records. 

Artan and Dubcoff also attacked the credibility of the Jane Does, repeating similar argument made by Eteghaei’s previous attorney during the trial about how they didn’t immediately seek help during or right after the crimes and how people around them heard arguing, but not an assault. 

“I see what happened in court as a greater threat to the rule of law than anything Arian did,” Dubcoff told Deroian, the judge.

He also argued in court filings that with the amount of allegations and Jane Does in the case, the prosecution tried to “turn a college freshman into the Golden State Killer” and that testimony purposely tried to paint Eteghaei in a bad light.

Eteghaei’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Monday at 9:30 a.m. in Department 11 of Santa Barbara Superior Court.

He has a pending criminal case for allegedly attempting to escape custody after running away from the courthouse shortly after the jury announced the guilty verdicts. He has pleaded not guilty to the felony charge of escape by force or violence.

Eteghaei is currently being held in jail custody with no bail.