New Boston, Texas: A Bowie County jury sentenced a 23-year-old DeKalb, Texas, man to 50 years in prison Wednesday for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in 2012.
Isiah Marshawn Threadgill was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child by a jury of nine women and three men. Threadgill did not take the stand.
The victim, who is now 16, testified that she and her father went to a get-together at Threadgill’s mother’s home in DeKalb during the summer of 2012. The girl said that Threadgill made her uncomfortable while she and a group of other children were watching television in a bedroom. The victim testified that Threadgill called her name and when she looked at him, he appeared to be physically aroused.
The girl said she went outside where the adults were socializing and asked her father if they could go home. The girl said her father wanted to visit longer and that after seeing Threadgill come outside, she went back inside to the room where the children were watching a movie. The girl said she fell asleep on a bed in the room and that when she awakened to someone touching her she realized she was alone in the room with Threadgill.
The girl said Threadgill pinned her arms to the bed with one hand and removed her pants and underwear with another, under direct examination by Assistant District Attorney Katie Carter.
“I was screaming for my daddy and he said, ‘I’m your daddy now,'” the victim testified. “He grabbed a white shirt from the end of the bed and stuffed it in my mouth.”
The girl said she was afraid that if she told her father, he would have reacted in a manner that could have gotten him in trouble. The girl said she kept the assault a secret for years but decided to tell after hearing friends at school discussing sexual assault in May 2016. The victim’s mother contacted law enforcement immediately after her daughter told her of the 2012 attack.
Bowie County Sheriff’s Office David Biggar testified that he arranged for the girl to meet with a forensic interviewer May 17, 2016, at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Texarkana, under questioning by First Assistant District Attorney Michael Shepherd. The jury also watched a portion of Biggar’s interview with Threadgill during which Threadgill denies ever touching the girl.
Children’s Advocacy Center Program Director Missy Davison testified that the victim provided sensory details in her account of the assault which are common among sexual abuse victims. Davison testified that most victims of child sexual abuse never report it.
Threadgill was represented by Shoaib Daredia and Clayton Haas of the Bowie County Public Defenders Office and 202nd District Judge John Tidwell presided over the trial.
