A registered sex offender accused of stalking a woman in San Rafael has been ordered to stand trial.
Darrien James Humphries, 25, of Vacaville allegedly followed a stranger who was walking to work on Professional Center Parkway on March 19. The preliminary examination of the evidence was held Thursday in Marin County Superior Court.
The accuser testified that Humphries asked her to kiss him, followed her and stood in her way when she stopped.
“He told me, ‘Kiss me, my wife,’” she said via a Creole interpreter.
Humphries and the woman briefly entered a private school campus during their encounter, San Rafael police reported. No assault has been alleged.
“I did not let him touch me,” the woman testified.
Public defender Nicole Tiger argued that the evidence does not show Humphries posed a threat to the accuser.
“All he said was, ‘Kiss me,’” Tiger said.
She said Humphries also made kissing gestures to police officers and gave them nonsensical statements. Tiger stressed that Humphries never touched the woman and that he only impeded her movement in one direction.
Prosecutor Roopa Krishna said Humphries frightened the woman into believing she could not move.
Judge Geoffrey Howard ruled there is enough evidence to support felony charges of stalking and false imprisonment as well as the misdemeanor charge of entering school property as a registered sex offender. He said Humphries’ behavior could be interpreted as a threat of sexual assault.
Howard said the evidence did not indicate the defendant was under the influence of a controlled substance during the incident.
Last year, Humphries was ordered to register as a sex offender in a Santa Clara County sexual battery case that involved a girlfriend. He is still under probation supervision as part of that sentence.
Howard scheduled a new arraignment for Humphries on May 28. Humphries remains in custody at the Marin County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Tiger declined to comment after the hearing.