A Texas man was sentenced Thursday to 244 years in prison for brutally raping his 38-day-old daughter while high on methamphetamine.
Patricio Medina, 27, was found guilty Wednesday in Waco’s 54th State District Court for the 2014 sexual assault and abuse of his newborn daughter while in a meth-induced state.
The jury convicted him on five charges — one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child younger than six, two counts of injury to a child, and two counts of endangering a child.
Despite pleas from Medina’s attorneys and family members for a 25 year prison sentence, the jury sentenced Medina to 80 years in prison without the possibility of parole for the aggravated sexual assault conviction. Then, the jury handed Medina two 80-year sentences for the conviction on two counts of injury to a child and four years for the conviction on two counts of endangering a child, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald. These sentences will run concurrently.
In March 2014, Medina was accused of sexually violating the 38-day-old after a doctor found 48 broken or fractured bones, a black eye, and other injuries on the infant during her five-week-old checkup. At the time, medical professionals told Waco police that some of the skeletal injuries were consistent with shaken baby syndrome, according to KXXV. Medina was arrested. He admitted to his methamphetamine habit and, subsequently, tested positive for the drug in a test conducted by Texas Child Protective Services (CPS). However, he only told investigators he squeezed and shook the baby when he was upset with the baby’s mother and his girlfriend Lisa Montoya.
KWTX reported Medina was indicted in November 2015. He has remained in custody at the McLennan County Jail since April 2017 in lieu of a $225,000 bond. While in jail, Medina befriended then fellow inmate Fernando Herrera, who testified during the two-day trial which began on Tuesday.
Herrera told jurors the men forged a jailhouse friendship over their shared methamphetamine addictions which led Medina to confide in him about what happened to the baby. The Tribune-Herald reported Herrera said Medina told him Montoya left the house and he cared for the baby who started crying. Medina said, at the time, he was high on meth and found himself sexually aroused by the sounds of the newborn’s sobs, which he said he mistook for the moaning of a sexually aroused woman. According to Herrera, Medina said he forced himself on the baby girl, including penetrating her mouth.
Doctors also testified on the extensive bone breaks and fractures found all over the baby’s body in various stages of healing, suggesting the suspected abuse went on for weeks. The State called Montoya, the baby’s mother, to the witness stand. She expressed uncertainty on how the baby’s injuries occurred. She said Medina would watch the baby and her two sisters when she ran errands or was out of the house. Montoya admitted the couple often used methamphetamines at home while the children slept but she never saw him abuse the baby or her other daughters. Previously, Montoya pleaded guilty to two counts of child endangerment for leaving the baby in Medina’s custody.
During the two-day trial, prosecutors described the baby’s first weeks of life as a “living hell.” Medina and Montoya lost custody of the children. The baby, who is now four years old, and the two other siblings, were adopted by a family in McLennan County. Prosecutors said the little girl is doing well.
The Waco newspaper noted Montoya had two other children who were adopted by family members once CPS removed the children from her care.
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