Warning: This article contains graphic content.
The trial has now begun for Zachary Coughlin, otherwise known as the Mirror Bus Driver, who was living in his converted bus in Isla Vista and was arrested last May for stalking and later charged in October 2020 with multiple counts of rape.
Coughlin was arrested and charged on May 19, 2020 following social media reporting of his behavior. Courtesy of Raquel Zick
The judge, Von T. Nguyen Deroian, said the last day to file pre-trial motions is June 8, and the court will hear the motions from June 14 to 16. According to the judge, pre-trial motions will be significant in the upcoming case, which the court is making a priority.
The lawyers will begin the jury selection process on June 31, and the trial will go to jury on July 28.
Coughlin pleaded not guilty to 17 felony charges on Oct. 2, 2020 during his arraignment.
Coughlin was charged with the following on Oct. 1, 2020: two counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person, two counts of sexual penetration of an intoxicated person, two counts of sexual penetration of an incompetant person, two counts of rape of an intoxicated person, one count of rape of an unconscious or asleep person, one count of of rape of an uncsncious person, two counts of rape of an incompetant person, one count of oral copulation of unconscious or sleep person, one count of oral copulation of an incompetant person, one count of oral copulation of an intoxicated person, one count of forcible sexual penetration, and one count of kidnap for rape, spousal rape, oral copulation or sodomy.
Those 17 charges were added after Coughlin was arrested and charged on May 19, 2020 following social media reporting of Coughlin’s behavior including “stalking” — for which he was arrested — and “yelling at community members and making references to the 2014 I.V. tragedy on his social media accounts.”
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