Men gets 40 years after pleading guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a child.
An Erath County jury of six men and six women sentenced 42-year-old Jose Escamilla to 40 years in prison Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Beneath the Surface News reached out to District Attorney Alan Nash about the case and was sent the following press release about Escamilla’s guilty plea and sentencing.
Testimony began with Sgt. Robert Moore of the Stephenville Police Department describing his response to a call regarding an argument at the Escamilla home.
In the course of interviewing members of the household, an outcry was expressed by a teenage child (pseudonym “Jane LYE”) regarding past sexual abuse by Jose Escamilla.
A forensic interview of the child was performed by the Children’s Advocacy Center, which revealed a pattern of sexual abuse beginning when the victim was thirteen years old.
Detective Orlando Gaitan interviewed Escamilla, who admitted to touching Jane LYE in a sexual manner on several occasions. The jury watched the interview and were provided a transcript/translation of the interview, which had been conducted in Spanish.
The victim took the stand and described in detail the sexual abuse she suffered and explained the effects it had on her and her family.
The victim described Escamilla, over the course of months, coming into her bedroom, lying beside her in her bed and touching her private areas.
Assistant District Attorney Jett Smith urged the jury to recognize the depravity revealed in the two days of testimony and to impose a lengthy sentence on Escamilla to protect other children in his home and in his family, and to communicate by their verdict a message that abuse such as this will not be tolerated in this community.
