Jury finds Bay Area man guilty of rape, kidnapping, attempted torture

A Solano County Superior Court jury earlier this month found a 30-year-old Vacaville man guilty of 13 felonies, among them forcible rape, kidnapping and torture.

Michael Milad Behnamnia heard the verdicts on July 11 in Department 1, where Judge Jeffrey C. Kauffman will sentence him at 9 a.m. Aug. 16 in the Justice Center in Fairfield.

According to a press statement issued Tuesday by the District Attorney’s Office, Behnamnia was found guilty of attempted torture, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of criminal threats, forcible oral copulation, forcible rape, four counts of corporal injury to a spouse or girlfriend, domestic battery, and kidnapping.

Jurors also found that Behnamnia “personally inflicted great bodily injury and that the defendant personally used a deadly or dangerous weapon,” according to wording in the prepared statement.

Court records showed that, over the course of several months, the defendant repeatedly physically abused his girlfriend inside their Vacaville home.

On July 18, 2023, the victim escaped from the home after enduring several days ofviolence inflicted by Behnamnia.

With the intervention of a good Samaritan, Vacaville Police responded to the victim’s location and obtained her initial statement.

When the police department’s Special Victims Unit Detective Dayna Hardwick interviewed the victim, she revealed that several previous incidents of domestic violence led to a leg fracture and several broken teeth.

The victim, who was not identified, also disclosed that on July 14 last year, while driving to their home, Behnamnia struck her repeatedly on her head and neck areas and made threats to harm her and kill her family. Upon arriving at their home, the defendant physically carried her into the residence against her will. Once inside, the defendant took the victim’s phones to prevent her from calling for help.

From July 16 until her escape on July 18, Behnamnia “repeatedly inflicted physical and sexual violence on the victim,” court records indicated.

Hardwick investigated this case, and Deputy District Attorney Carrie Gylling led the prosecution, assisted by Victim Advocate Cynthia Malloy.

In the press statement, DA Krishna Abrams, Solano County’s top law enforcement officer, said anyone — or anyone known to be a victim of domestic violence — who needs the help of an advocate to call (707) 784-6827 or to call 911 in an emergency.