Congratulations Steve deLemos on a good job getting the guilty verdict.
The punishment phase to begin Monday mroning.
Guilty verdict delivered in assault case
-
In a second trial, jurors found Danny Delgado Martinez, 36, guilty of one count of aggravated sexual assault of his daughter, who was 7 years old at the time of the alleged incident.
The jury entered deliberations at 11 a.m. and emerged at about 2:30 p.m., with a guilty verdict.
Family members cried quietly in the gallery as Martinez sat calmly before eventually looking down and hanging his head as his wife and mother-in-law took the stand to testify.
Martinez faces between five and 99 years in prison, or a life sentence and up to $10,000 in fines.
The alleged assault took place Oct. 16, 2003 at the home of Martinez’s in-laws. The victim, Martinez’s daughter, testified earlier in the week of how her father took her and her two brothers into a bedroom before telling his sons to go to another room in the house. He then proceeded to sexually assault her in the darkened room for a matter of minutes, she said. She also testified to another incident when Martinez attempted to sexually abuse her at his mobile home about six months later in New Braunfels before stopping when she began to cry.
State assistant district attorney Steven de Lemos pointed to the defense’s use of an “eleventh-hour witness” who was brought in Friday, a friend of the victim, who claimed the victim told her at school that grandfather Hilario Castilleja had sexually assaulted her, not her father.
Castilleja died in 2007 from throat cancer.
“This witness is not credible,” de Lemos told jurors in his closing argument, noting the victim had told her family, law enforcement and nurses her father had assaulted her, not her grandfather.
Martinez, a former Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer, claimed in his defense that his daughter was assaulted, but that his father-in-law, now deceased, had committed the act.
However, Martinez did not explain where he was, during the assault. The victim refuted his testimony, saying she was not confused about who abused her.
“I want my husband’s name to be cleared,” said Virginia Castilleja, the mother of Martinez’s wife, Julie Martinez. “My husband was the most loving husband…[Danny Delgado Martinez] has the gall to accuse him. How dare he, after all we have done for him.”
Over the course of the last four days, jurors heard testimony from the victim, her mother, Julie Martinez, a nurse who examined the victim in 2005 when she finally told family of the assault, and a school friend of the victim.
Defense attorney Patton Zarate, in his closing argument, said “maybe” the victim’s grandfather committed the assault, but that it was also possible the victim’s mother coached her to blame her father so she could gain custody of their youngest child in their turbulent relationship.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” he said as jurors saw family photos where Martinez and his daughter appeared happy even after the incident.
The victim cried quietly in the courtroom, surrounded by her family as her mother choked through words during the punishment hearing.
Julie Martinez noted the victim has attempted to “act like everything is OK” after the assault and supported the prosecution’s evidence of the victim’s academic excellence but hidden habit of cutting herself to cope with pressure and pain.
“Even though the charge is ‘guilty,’ we serve a God that is in control and with Danny and the truth will be revealed,” said Ymelda Benavidez, one of Martinez’s aunts.
The jury will return Monday at 9 a.m., for sentencing in the 207th district court with Judge Gary Steel presiding.
