Accused Molester Wants Trial in ‘Three Strikes’ Case : Crime: Henry Diaz plans to withdraw his guilty plea. His record includes robberies and killing a prison inmate.

A Simi Valley man who faced sentencing under the new “three strikes” law after pleading guilty to molesting a 13-year-old girl told a judge Friday he now wants a trial in the case.

Acting Superior Court Judge Bruce A. Clark, who had been set to sentence Henry Diaz, 40, to a mandatory 25 years to life in prison, agreed to give the defendant’s lawyer time to withdraw the guilty plea.

Clark set an Oct. 21 hearing to rule on the motion.

Diaz, a three-time convicted robber, entered guilty pleas to three counts of child molestation in August.

One of the incidents occurred after the “three strikes” law went into effect on March 7, making the heavily tattooed gang member eligible for sentencing under the new statute.

If convicted under the law, defendants with a least two prior serious or violent felonies face a mandatory prison sentence of 25 years to life.

In addition to his robbery convictions, Diaz was found guilty by the state Department of Corrections of killing a fellow inmate in 1979, court records show. The probation report gave no details of the slaying, but said that the lifelong Simi Valley resident has 22 arrests on his rap sheet.

Diaz’s child-molestation case stemmed from an arrest in March, when Simi Valley police raided the home he and several other people shared in the 1700 block of Sitka Avenue.

Court records say the home was raided after a confidential police informant purchased drugs there. During the raid, police found Diaz in bed with the girl.

Diaz was charged with 10 felony counts of child molestation, including two counts after the new law for repeat offenders took effect. He faced up to 70 years to life in state prison.

In an agreement that accompanied his guilty plea on Aug. 9, Diaz was able to shave 33 years from the potential sentence. However, Diaz’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Neil B. Quinn, said Friday that his client wants to go to trial.

Quinn cited a technicality in the way the plea agreement was structured as basis for the request for a new trial. He also told the judge that the girl does not want Diaz to go to prison.

“She wants to have contact with him,” Quinn said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrice D. Koenig, however, called the defendant manipulative. She said that he is putting pressure on the girl not to testify against him.

But Koenig said the point is moot: Under California law, adults are prohibited from having sex with minors, even if the youth consents.

Contained in the court file for the case are letters between Diaz and the girl since his incarceration. The letters were intercepted by Ventura County Jail officials, authorities said.

“Do you know I need to know something from you?” Diaz wrote. “It’s important to me how much do you love me!! I ask cause you can make all the difference in this whole situation. I’m not trying to confuse you in no way. I need to know from you what (you are) going to do for me in court.”

In one letter to him, the girl said she was sorry to see Diaz “in that awful place.”

“I think you have done no crime,” the letter said, “for love is no crime.”