On February 20, 1990, at about 3:15 p.m., a 27-year-old woman who was a patient at the Metropolitan State Hospital (MSH) in Norwalk, California, approached two guards and said she had been raped that afternoon.
The woman, J.D., was Guatemalan, and had been diagnosed with bipolar disease and schizophrenia. Her mental condition had caused her to be hospitalized at MSH on numerous prior occasions. She had a history of hallucinations and assaultive behavior. She was considered hypersensitive and was known to be flirtatious and to inappropriately touch male peers. One of the doctors at MSH who had examined her would later characterize her as extremely susceptible to suggestion, such as could arise from being asked leading questions; that if she became upset enough during an interrogation she would not be able to distinguish between fantasy and reality; and that when in a manic phase, she would seek to be the center of attention by any means available.
J.D. said she had been picked up in a white car and taken at gunpoint to an outdoor alcove near a vacant building on MSH grounds known as the Old Cider House. The two officers took her to the alcove. There they spotted a blanket, a sheet, and a used condom. J.D. had not mentioned these items up to that point. The sheet and blanket appeared to be from the hospital. Condoms were distributed to patients because it was known that they would occasionally engage in sexual relations with each other. The alcove of the Old Cider House was popular for this purpose because it offered a modicum of privacy.
She said the person was a supervisor, someone the officers worked with. They also heard her say “208” and “Bravo.” At this point, One officer said to the other officer, “Mark?” And J.D. said, “Yeah, that's it. Mark Bravo.”
At that time, 31-year-old Mark Bravo worked as a nurse at the hospital and was the supervisor of unit 208, which was a Spanish-speaking unit. A report was prepared and forwarded to Howard Giblin, who was the senior special investigator at MSH and responsible for investigating the allegation.
The case was turned over to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detectives. The following morning, February 21, 1990, Bravo was arrested and brought to the hospital. He denied having an interaction with the woman. He said that he left the hospital at 11:00 a.m. and had not returned until after 12:30 p.m. He said he had been in meetings from 1:00 p.m. until after 3:00 p.m. He said that he went home that night unaware that the woman had claimed she had been raped that day. Another employee confirmed Bravo’s account.
The detectives took the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office. A prosecutor declined to file charges because J.D. was vague about the time of the attack. They requested that the evidence be submitted to the crime lab for testing. Bravo was released.
On March 23, Bravo was re-arrested and charged with rape after serology testing failed to exclude him as the source of biological evidence found on the victim’s clothing and a sheet.
In August 1990, Bravo’s defense attorney, Steve Nieto, filed a motion seeking a continuance to obtain DNA testing. The prosecution opposed the motion. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge C. Robert Simpson denied the motion because a backlog at the crime lab would have required him to delay the trial.
In October 1990, Bravo went to trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court. J.D. testified that she was on the hospital grounds and got into a car with Bravo when he offered to get her some food. She said he drove her to another area of the hospital grounds, forced her out of the car and into an alcove of one of the buildings. She said he struck her in the mouth and chest, pulled down her clothing, and raped her. She said she walked about a half-mile to the hospital police officer, arriving about 3:10 p.m. to report she had been attacked.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office criminalist Richard Catalani testified that semen was recovered from the victim’s clothing and on a blanket found at the crime scene. The blood type found on the blanket was found in only three percent of the population, from which Bravo could not be eliminated. Catalani, however, testified that only 1.5 percent of men had that blood type, suggesting that the probability statistic was twice as strong as it actually was.
Bravo testified and denied committing the crime. He described his whereabouts that day, including meetings that lasted just past 3 p.m. He said that he spent until about 3:40 P.M. photocopying study materials for an exam the following day.
Numerous employees testified and corroborated Bravo’s account.
On October 19, 1990, the jury convicted Bravo of rape. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Bravo’s appeals were denied. Attorney Sylvia Paoli subsequently sought DNA testing, and in October 1993, she obtained a court order from Superior Court Judge James Bascue for the testing to be performed.
DNA tests were performed on a sheet, a blanket, and a pair of underwear that were collected from the crime scene. The results came back on December 24, 1993, showing that none of the stains matched the DNA profile of either Bravo or the victim, eliminating Bravo as the perpetrator. By that time, the victim had recanted, saying she falsely implicated Bravo.
On January 6, 1994, Bravo’s conviction was vacated, the case was dismissed and he was released.
Bravo subsequently filed a civil suit. He received a settlement of $15,000 from his trial attorney and $875,000 from Los Angeles County. Four years later in 1998, Bravo earned a law degree from Western State University School of Law. That same year, he was awarded $4 million by a jury for violations of his civil rights by Giblin, the primary investigator at MSH in the case.
In that litigation, Bravo’s attorneys discovered that Giblin had failed to disclose to the prosecution that on March 6, three weeks after J.D. said she was assaulted, an officer on MSH grounds stopped a green car in which a patient, N.G., was riding because patients were prohibited from riding in private vehicles. The car was driven by Anthony Tapia Merchain, who was a frequent visitor to the hospital, was a former patient there and went by the name of “Tony.”
N.G. told the officer that she had had sex with “Tony,” four or five weeks earlier, and that he had been harassing her since. N.G. said she was in the car that day because Merchain had coaxed her into his car with an offer of a cigarette. She said he then forced her to perform oral sex and forcibly sodomized her. At that time, the officer did not know that J.D. had initially identified her attacker as “Tony.” N.G. further said that Merchain had previously taken N.G. to the Old Cider House alcove for sex. Ultimately, N.G.’s allegations were not pursued after N.G. recanted and said she had falsely accused Merchain of rape because she was afraid of getting into trouble.
The federal court ruled that the report was exculpatory and should have been disclosed to Bravo’s trial defense attorneys. The court noted that J.D. “repeatedly identified her attacker as ‘Tony,’ a Central American; she said he offered her a ride in his car and offered to take her to lunch; she occasionally identified her attacker as a fellow patient; the attack took place in the alcove of the Old Cider House. Merchain went by the name ‘Tony;’ he was Hispanic; he was a former patient at MSH; he had had consensual sex with N.G. in the Old Cider House alcove at around the time J.D. was allegedly attacked and had been returning to the grounds regularly thereafter looking for sex; he offered his victim a ride in his car and induced her to come along with an offer of treats.”
The federal court also ruled that Giblin had misrepresented the time of the attack so as to weaken Bravo’s alibi; that he had failed to disclose to the prosecution MSH time records that supported Bravo’s account of his whereabouts; and that J.D. had recanted four days after her initial report, but then recanted her recantation.
The judgment was appealed, but ultimately Bravo prevailed. By the time the state paid out the award in 2004, interest brought the total that he received to just over $7 million.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 01-26-2026
