June 01, 2017 

City News Service 

An appellate panel Tuesday upheld the conviction of a felon who fired on Inglewood police and holed up inside a home with his off-and-on girlfriend and her 14-year-old daughter for more than eight hours, raping the teen during the standoff.

 

The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense's contention that a Los Angeles Superior Court judge erred in denying Christopher Dewayne Warsaw's request to replace his appointed attorney, Ludlow B. Creary II, before his trial, along with the claim that his lawyer provided ineffective assistance of counsel.

 

In the 18-page ruling, the appellate court justices noted that “the evidence of defendant’s guilt was overwhelming” and that the uncontroverted evidence demonstrated that Warsaw raped the teenage girl “under threat of death.”

 

He was convicted in March 2016 of  nine counts each of attempted murder of a peace officer and assault on a peace officer with a semi-automatic firearm, two counts of false imprisonment of a hostage and one count each of forcible rape, kidnapping and possession of a firearm by a felon.

 

Warsaw has a 1989 conviction for voluntary manslaughter in Los Angeles County.

 

Neighbors called 911 on Nov. 27, 2013, after hearing piercing screams from the girl, who ran outside when Warsaw returned to the home with a gun after his girlfriend had told him to leave, Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray said. The teenage girl was seen being dragged by Warsaw back into the house, according to the prosecutor.

 

Warsaw opened fire on Ingle­wood police when they responded to the 911 call, with one officer being shot in the barrage of gunfire — his life was saved by his bulletproof vest — and another officer hurt after falling.

 

Officers returned fire, but no one inside the home was struck.

 

Warsaw barricaded himself inside the home with the woman and her daughter, with the standoff resulting in the evacuation of surrounding homes until he surrendered more than 8 1/2 hours later.

 

The teenager informed her stepmother 11 days later that she had been raped, and DNA evidence that was collected linked Warsaw to the attack, according to the prosecutor.

 

After the jury’s verdict, Creary said, “I don’t think the specific intent was there for the attempted murder. I think the jury got it wrong on the specific intent.”

 

At Warsaw’s sentencing last June, the teenage girl’s father called his daughter’s assailant an “animal.”

 

“He forever scarred a pure and innocent child,” the man told the judge.

 

Warsaw is serving a life prison sentence without the possibility of parole.

Category: News