Santa Barbara County Superior Court jurors who will consider the fate of a man charged with killing a Santa Maria woman 38 years ago learned that violent force was used in her strangulation.
Aloysius Winthrop James, 58, of Georgia has been charged in connection with the death of Ofelia Sandoval, 30, at the Town Center Hotel on the 200 block of North Broadway on Sept. 18, 1988. The hotel was demolished after being severely damaged in a 2013 fire.
He has been charged with first-degree murder plus faces a special circumstance, or sentencing enhancement, that the killing occurred during the commission of a rape.
James was arrested in Georgia two years ago and returned to California to face the charges…