Thread: Jury finds illegal immigrant guilty of Annaville rape

Jury finds illegal immigrant guilty of Annaville rape

May 10, 2007 05:39 PM

NUECES COUNTY - A Nueces County jury reached a guilty verdict at about 5 p.m. in the trial of an illegal immigrant who's accused of raping an elderly woman in her Annaville home. Testimony wrapped up with emotional appeals to the jury from the prosecution and defense.

The jury deliberated for about two hours after hearing emotional closing arguments from the prosecution, who described the agonizing ordeal the victim lived through - so painful, she thought she thought she was dying.

"Terrible, brutal, vicious, inhuman, you could say these were acts committed by an animal," Prosecutor Bill Ainsworth said.

Ainsworth described how 22-year-old Eugenio Sandoval brutally raped a 64-year-old woman. The victim sat behind her alleged attacker as Ainsworth tried to convince the jury to find him guilty.

"I don't think your going to have any doubt or any problem coming to the conclusion, to the poor victim in this case," he said.

Ainsworth reminded the jury that Sandoval's skin cells were found on a bra that was used to tie the woman to her bed during the horrific ordeal.

"She was punched in the face; she was urinated on, and was brutally raped," Ainsworth said. "Every way that someone could be raped."

Sandoval's attorney said Sandoval admitted to breaking into the woman's home, but denied raping the woman, and burglarizing her home. He told the jury that there isn't enough evidence for a guilty verdict.

Sandoval's attorney said another man who was with him that night committed the rape.

"I use the word to describe my client as a sacrificial lamb," Defense attorney Jim Lawrence said. "That's what we have here."

But the jury felt Sandoval was guilty on all charges. The punishment phase of the trial begins Thursday. He now faces as much as life in prison.

Online Reporter: Roxanne Carrillo

http://www.kristv.com/global/story.asp?s=6494129

Jury recommends 99 years for Eugenio Sandoval

May 11, 2007 03:55 PM PDT



Jury recommends 99 years for Eugenio Sandoval


CORPUS CHRISTI - The jury in the trial of a man convicted of raping a 64-year-old woman has reached a decision on a sentence.

The jury has recommended 99 years on counts one and two of aggravated sexual assault for Eugenio Sandoval. On count three, aggravated robbery, the jury is recommending a 60 year sentence. on count four the jury recommended 15 years for Sandoval's burglary of a home conviction. On the final count, his unauthorized use of a motor vehicle conviction, the jury is recommending a 10 year sentence.

It's now up to the judge in the case to either accept the jury's recommendation or issue a different sentence. That decision won't come until Monday.

The jury in Sandoval's trial began deliberating his punishment Thursday, after he took the stand. Once again he admitted he broke into the victim's home with three other men, but said he didn't rape her.

He claims he was outside the house, when one of the other men assaulted the woman.

KRISTV.COM and KRIS 6 News will have more on this story as it develops.

"She was punched in the face; she was urinated on, and was brutally raped," Ainsworth said. "Every way that someone could be raped."

He deserves the maximum.

He badly needs life in prison with NO possibility of parole.