A Texas jury took around three hours to convict a man of sexually assaulting a family member over the span of numerous years.
During a 4-day trial in the 137th District Court in Lubbock that ended January 14, suspect Lucio Delossantos-Narvaez, 53, was convicted of indecency with a child by sexual contact and sexual abuse. The sentence carries a term of up to life in prison without parole.
The jury deliberated a total of around three hours starting Wednesday, but it took only 20 minutes Friday to convict Delossantos-Narvaez.
The assaults began when the victim, now 13, was a young child. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports that the prosecution showed jurors several instances of sexual assault carried out by Delossantos-Narvaez. From April 2018 and January 2019, the defendant sexually assaulted the child at least four times.
The abuse continued until the child’s mother caught a glimpse of the defendant groping the victim through the reflection on a TV screen.
The victim took the stand and relived the experiences, starting when she was 8 or 10. She had a hard time remembering specific dates of the attacks, but the prosecution added that forgetting details was normal in cases such as these, especially given the victim’s age.
“Sometimes kids don’t want to remember what happened to them,” Lubbock County Assistant District Attorney Cara Landers told jurors. “Sometimes they don’t want to remember when it happened to them.”
Delossantos-Narvaez was ultimately sentenced to life for continuous sexual abuse, along with an additional 20 years for indecency by sexual contact with a child younger than 14. The sentences will run concurrently.
The defendant, a Mexican national, is also being held for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He could possibly face additional charges.
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[Feature Photo: Police Handout]
