NEW BOSTON, Texas–A man who sexually abused a girl for years was sentenced to life in prison without parole at the end of a jury trial in Bowie County jury.
Jose Luis Ramirez, 44, was arrested for continuous sexual abuse of a child in 2013 and released on bond, court records show. He failed to appear in court after his release and was presumed to be hiding in Mexico, Assistant District Attorney Dawson McGonagill told TXK Today on Thursday.
The girl reported in 2009 that Ramirez would sexually assault her at a house on Forest Lane in Bowie County, according to a probable cause affidavit. The girl, then 12, reported that the abuse had been ongoing for years and recounted being sexually assaulted for the first time by Ramirez on her 8th birthday and being told it was her present.
“Today is her 28th birthday and he got life without parole,” Assistant District Attorney Bradley Akins said, adding that at the jury’s request, the jurors sang happy birthday to the victim after the trial.
Akins represented the state along with McGonagill and 102nd District Judge Jeff Addison presided.
Ramirez resurfaced in the area last year and has been in custody since April. This week, a jury heard testimony from the victim and from another girl who alleges she was sexually abused by Ramirez as well.
McGonagill said the jury deliberated for about ten minutes during the punishment phase of Ramirez’s trial before returning to the courtroom with a life sentence and a maximum $10,000 fine. Under Texas law, defendants convicted of the continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 are not eligible for parole.
“The District Attorney’s Office would like to say thank you to the Bowie County Sheriff’s Office for being so diligent in working this case, the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab for maintaining the evidence and their DNA analysis, the women at the Texarkana Children’s Advocacy Center, and our jury for protecting the children of our county and giving justice to these girls,” McGonagill said.
“They have lived the past 15 years looking over their shoulders,” McGonagill added. “Now they can finally start a new phase of their lives – no longer as victims, but as survivors.”
