A North County hairstylist was found guilty by a jury on April 25 of sodomizing a 19-year-old gay man who was severely intoxicated at the time. He was assaulted on a living room couch in a Hillcrest apartment in the middle of the night and the defendant’s DNA was found on a stain on the victim’s underwear.

The same jury considering the felony case against Simon Howard Calac, 24, deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquittal of sodomy of an unconscious person. Jurors afterwards said because the victim woke up during the assault, they had trouble finding that he was in the state of unconsciousness. A mistrial was declared on that charge in San Diego Superior Court.

The seven-man, five-woman jury also acquitted Calac of sexual battery of a 20-year-old gay man in an incident hours earlier in the same apartment on April 7, 2007. The 20-year-old testified Calac groped his groin and butt as he and three others were looking at something on a computer while they were getting ready to leave for a party.

Calac appeared on April 28 before the trial judge, Bradford Andrews, who set sentencing for May 21.

Judge Howard Shore took the verdict April 25, but both judges allowed Calac to remain free on a $150,000 property bond previously posted.

Deputy District Attorney Brian Erickson said the penalty for the charge of sodomy of an intoxicated person ranges from probation to eight years in state prison. He said Calac has no criminal record.

Erickson had asked the judge to remand Calac into jail, saying there were “possible threats to the community,” especially if Calac is drinking. Calac’s attorney, Paul Neuharth, Jr., said his client had made all court appearances and would show up at sentencing.

Calac’s DNA was found on a stain on the victim’s boxer shorts, according to testimony. It is the policy of the Gay & Lesbian Times not to name the victim of a sex crime. The victim and his friend, who alleged he was groped, were visiting Juan Reynoso, a friend who lives in Hillcrest, when the incidents occurred in Reynoso’s apartment.

“He was fairly intoxicated, very drunk, sleepy, very incoherent,” the victim’s friend said. “He passed out on the couch at 1:30 (a.m.), so we just let him sleep.”

Calac was also a friend of Reynoso and at that time lived several blocks away. Calac came over to the apartment that night. The victim’s friend told jurors Calac grabbed his crotch and groped him without being introduced.

“I really didn’t know him at all. He appeared to be drunk,” said the friend. “I told him to stop. He was making himself unwelcome.”

Hours later, the victim told jurors he woke up to a sharp pain. “I felt something was entering my rectum,” he said.

He said he noticed all of his clothing had been removed and he saw Calac, who was also nude, over him.

“I pulled away from him. I was in shock. I didn’t know who he was,” the victim said. “My knees were propped up and I was lying on my back … I didn’t know what I could get from him, [i.e.] STDs. It was embarrassing because I had someone I didn’t know on top of me.”

The victim testified he went to the bathroom and Calac followed him.

“I told him to get out. I was very upset and scared. I was very shaken up,” the victim said.

Calac left the apartment but dropped his wallet on the floor.

Around 6 a.m., Calac returned to the apartment, according to testimony, to get his wallet. By this time, the occupants of the apartment were awake and had heard the victim’s account of what happened.

“He [Calac] said he wanted to apologize. We basically told him if he didn’t leave, we would call the police,” the victim’s friend said.

The victim reported the assault 72 hours later and underwent a rape exam in a hospital. Nurses did not find any semen, but a nurse testified the rectal region was torn and oozed blood, evidence he had been sodomized. He turned over his clothing to San Diego Police, and a technician discovered the stain on his boxers that matched DNA from Calac.

Calac took the stand and testified he drank heavily that night, but did not remember anything about the incident with the victim. He said he remembered all the Hillcrest bars he went to and visiting the apartment that night. He denied groping the victim’s friend, but said the next thing he remembered was noticing his wallet was missing.

The prosecutor asked him if he was denying he had sex with the victim, and he answered, “I don’t remember.” Erickson asked him if the sex was consensual, but Calac replied again, “I don’t remember.”

Calac testified he had never used force in sexual situations.

“I’m not that kind of person,” he said. The defense put on several character witnesses who worked with Calac at a Valley Center casino. They all said he was truthful and was not sexually aggressive.

“The defendant was not a very credible witness,” said one juror to the attorneys following the verdict. Other jurors said they wondered why Calac kept saying he didn’t remember anything about the assault.

Neuharth, Calac’s attorney, told jurors that was the same story he told police, that he could not remember anything about the incident.