- Miguel Angel Bernardino was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting a woman looking for a ride.
- The case was delayed by untested rape kits and the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Victim M.W. expressed strength and resilience, stating she is no longer a victim.
SALT LAKE CITY — First, justice was delayed because of a backup of thousands of untested rape kits.
Then, just as the case against the man who sexually assaulted her was starting, the Utah court system came to a halt because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But on Thursday — nearly 10 years after M.W. was attacked — Miguel Angel Bernardino, 37, was sentenced to at least 10 years and up to life in the Utah State Prison.
"Today I am no longer your victim," the woman told Bernardino.
On Nov. 23, 2016, a 25-year-old woman, whom the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office identified as M.W., was sitting at a bus stop at 3300 South and 900 West when Bernardino pulled up and offered to give her a ride to a nearby TRAX station.
Instead, Bernardino drove to secluded area behind a closed business and began physically and sexually assaulting the woman, according to charging documents. After, he drove for a few minutes, then opened the passenger door and pushed the woman into the snow.
The woman received a sexual assault examination at a local hospital and a DNA sample was submitted to the Utah State Crime Lab. But that sample sat on a shelf for years.
The state had accumulated a backlog of thousands of untested sexual assault kits. It wasn't until the introduction of Utah's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, which started in 2017 — and Utah lawmakers mandating the testing of the kits used to collect DNA and other physical evidence from victims of sexual crimes — that change began to happen.
Once M.W.'s kit was finally tested, investigators announced on May 6, 2020, that a match to a suspect had been found in the national criminal DNA database. Police then obtained a fresh DNA sample from Bernardino, and a second test confirmed the results.
Bernardino was charged in 2021. But by then, the courts had become backlogged with cases because of the challenges of holding legal proceedings during the pandemic.
In February, a jury convicted Bernardino of rape and forcible sodomy, first-degree felonies; and assault, a class B misdemeanor. The jury found him not guilty of aggravated kidnapping.
At Bernardino's sentencing hearing, M.W. had a letter prepared for him which Gill shared on Friday. In the letter, the woman says today she is a different person.
"Not only am I older, but I'm wiser. I don't take rides from strangers anymore. Today I am sober and love myself enough to reach out for help. And today I am stronger and no longer the terrified little girl you abused in the back of your car that night. Even though I was too afraid to stand up for myself then, I'm standing up for myself today. I'm standing up to you. Not only so that you know that what you did to me wasn't OK, but so that no other woman or little girl will go through what you put me through. Nobody deserves to know how I felt that night," she wrote.
Gill said the letter and the willingness by the woman to continue pursuing justice in her case nearly 10 years after being assaulted "speaks to the incredible courage" of M.W. and other survivors like her. He said while his office can't give "perfect justice" to survivors, they can hold someone accountable so survivors are not defined or burdened by their assault.
"We appreciate the bravery of the victim-survivor. She, after years of waiting for justice, bravely took the stand to hold her rapist accountable for his despicable actions, attacking and assaulting a woman simply asking for help," Gill said.
