Jeanfromfillmore
11-20-2009, 03:10 PM
Woman gets 40 years in sexual assault captured on video
By Steven Kreytak | Friday, November 20, 2009, 01:05 PM
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/courts/entries/2009/11/20/woman_gets_40_years_in_sexual.html
A woman who a prosecutor said held a child down while her husband sexually assaulted the girl — an act the couple captured on video — pleaded guilty in a Travis County courtroom Friday and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Mariana Garcia’s sentence for two counts of aggravated sexual assault was part of a plea bargain with prosecutors. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Charges are pending against Garcia’s husband, Adrian Navarro, 30.
Garcia, 24 revealed little emotion in proceedings before state District Judge Bob Perkins. At one point, prosecutor Joe Frederick asked her if Navarro is her husband and whether he is the one depicted in the video. She said “yes.”
Outside court, Garcia’s lawyer, Bradley Urrutia, said that Garcia was emotionally abused by her husband and acted under his control. He said that the plea agreement does not call for her cooperation in his trial but that since she has pleaded in the case she would be required to testify if called.
Outside court, Frederick said that a distinctive tattoo allowed investigators to affirmatively identify Garcia as the one “helping her husband with the sexual act.” Frederick said another child was shown in the video looking on.
The girl who was shown on the video being assaulted appeared to be under the age of 2, a police affidavit said.
An affidavit said that a detective went to Garcia’s apartment along Interstate 35 in South Austin on Jan. 22 during a search for stolen property. The detective found a computer hard drive and photos determined to be child pornography.
Navarro told police that he got the pornography from a relative and had been meaning to throw it away, the affidavit said.
On one hard drive, detectives found more than 500 photographs and more than 15 videos of child pornography, the affidavit said.
One of the videos showed the couple assaulting the child, the affidavit said.
Austin police child abuse unit Detective Joel Pridgeon, who was in court for the plea, has previously called the case “shocking.”
After their apartment was searched, the couple fled to Tejupilco, Mexico, where Garcia, a Mexican citizen, has family members. Mexican authorities discovered them with the help of U.S. marshals and Navarro, who is a U.S. citizen, was deported by Mexican officials and arrested when he arrived in San Antonio in January.
Mexican authorities formally extradited Garcia in June. Both are in the Travis County jail.
By Steven Kreytak | Friday, November 20, 2009, 01:05 PM
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/courts/entries/2009/11/20/woman_gets_40_years_in_sexual.html
A woman who a prosecutor said held a child down while her husband sexually assaulted the girl — an act the couple captured on video — pleaded guilty in a Travis County courtroom Friday and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Mariana Garcia’s sentence for two counts of aggravated sexual assault was part of a plea bargain with prosecutors. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Charges are pending against Garcia’s husband, Adrian Navarro, 30.
Garcia, 24 revealed little emotion in proceedings before state District Judge Bob Perkins. At one point, prosecutor Joe Frederick asked her if Navarro is her husband and whether he is the one depicted in the video. She said “yes.”
Outside court, Garcia’s lawyer, Bradley Urrutia, said that Garcia was emotionally abused by her husband and acted under his control. He said that the plea agreement does not call for her cooperation in his trial but that since she has pleaded in the case she would be required to testify if called.
Outside court, Frederick said that a distinctive tattoo allowed investigators to affirmatively identify Garcia as the one “helping her husband with the sexual act.” Frederick said another child was shown in the video looking on.
The girl who was shown on the video being assaulted appeared to be under the age of 2, a police affidavit said.
An affidavit said that a detective went to Garcia’s apartment along Interstate 35 in South Austin on Jan. 22 during a search for stolen property. The detective found a computer hard drive and photos determined to be child pornography.
Navarro told police that he got the pornography from a relative and had been meaning to throw it away, the affidavit said.
On one hard drive, detectives found more than 500 photographs and more than 15 videos of child pornography, the affidavit said.
One of the videos showed the couple assaulting the child, the affidavit said.
Austin police child abuse unit Detective Joel Pridgeon, who was in court for the plea, has previously called the case “shocking.”
After their apartment was searched, the couple fled to Tejupilco, Mexico, where Garcia, a Mexican citizen, has family members. Mexican authorities discovered them with the help of U.S. marshals and Navarro, who is a U.S. citizen, was deported by Mexican officials and arrested when he arrived in San Antonio in January.
Mexican authorities formally extradited Garcia in June. Both are in the Travis County jail.