FORT WORTH - State District Judge C.C. "Kit" Cooke called it the most egregious sexual assault case he has seen in 30 years on the bench.
Prosecutor Mitch Poe said the 54-year-old defendant was the "worst sexual predator I have ever seen."
And some jurors wanted to give him the death penalty for raping his daughter.
"We did not vote on it, obviously, because it wasn't an option for us," said jury forewoman Glinda Smith, 48, of North Richland Hills. "But there was discussion. He did not take a life, but someone made the comment that he ruined so many lives.
"Other people were already paying life sentences for his actions."
The panel of six men and six women deliberated for about an hour Thursday before imposing the maximum punishment: life in prison and a $10,000 fine on each of the two counts of sexual assault of a child. The sentences will run concurrently.
The day before, jurors took less than 30 minutes to convict the man, who is not being named so his daughter's identity will be protected.
During the four-day trial, prosecutors Poe and Lori Varnell told jurors that the man had used his daughter as his sex slave, molesting her since she was 5. By the time she was 13, he began photographing the sexual assaults. Jurors were shown some of the photos.
The girl testified that when she reached puberty, her father began using condoms, presumably to avoid a pregnancy.
Before her father was arrested in February 2003, the now-17-year-old girl estimated, he was molesting her every other night.
In the punishment phase of the trial, prosecutors showed jurors hundreds of photos that were found in the man's home. The images show children in bondage or engaged in sex acts with other children, adults and animals.
Jurors also heard about three other children the man sexually abused. Those victims -- his cousin and two of his daughter's aunts -- are now adults.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/9573011.htm?1c
Prosecutor Mitch Poe said the 54-year-old defendant was the "worst sexual predator I have ever seen."
And some jurors wanted to give him the death penalty for raping his daughter.
"We did not vote on it, obviously, because it wasn't an option for us," said jury forewoman Glinda Smith, 48, of North Richland Hills. "But there was discussion. He did not take a life, but someone made the comment that he ruined so many lives.
"Other people were already paying life sentences for his actions."
The panel of six men and six women deliberated for about an hour Thursday before imposing the maximum punishment: life in prison and a $10,000 fine on each of the two counts of sexual assault of a child. The sentences will run concurrently.
The day before, jurors took less than 30 minutes to convict the man, who is not being named so his daughter's identity will be protected.
During the four-day trial, prosecutors Poe and Lori Varnell told jurors that the man had used his daughter as his sex slave, molesting her since she was 5. By the time she was 13, he began photographing the sexual assaults. Jurors were shown some of the photos.
The girl testified that when she reached puberty, her father began using condoms, presumably to avoid a pregnancy.
Before her father was arrested in February 2003, the now-17-year-old girl estimated, he was molesting her every other night.
In the punishment phase of the trial, prosecutors showed jurors hundreds of photos that were found in the man's home. The images show children in bondage or engaged in sex acts with other children, adults and animals.
Jurors also heard about three other children the man sexually abused. Those victims -- his cousin and two of his daughter's aunts -- are now adults.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/9573011.htm?1c
