A former principal of a West Texas juvenile who claimed inmates lied when they told investigators that he had sexually assaulted them in darkened classrooms, closets and storage units was acquitted Monday of all charges against him.
Jurors deliberated for about six hours before returning the not guilty verdicts on the 11 counts against John Paul Hernandez. He had faced up to 20 years in prison on the case's most serious offenses — sexual assault and improper relationship between educator and student — which are second-degree felonies.
Hernandez was accused of sexually abusing the young men in 2004 and 2005 at the West Texas State School in Pyote.
"Six years I've been waiting to hear those words," Hernandez said. "I've already served a six-year punishment and finally a weight has been lifted."
All of Hernandez's accusers testified against him, telling jurors that Hernandez talked to them about pornography and fetishes before fondling them and performing oral sex.
Hernandez took the stand in his own defense and denied their allegations, saying the young men lied in their statements to Texas Rangers investigators. Hernandez's attorney, Albert G. Valadez, has said the former inmates made up the allegations so they'd be released from the facility, which closed last summer.
A former corrections officer at the prison testified for the defense that she heard two inmates — one of them an accuser in the case — talking about fabricating allegations of sexual abuse so they could go home.
Hernandez was the second former administrator at the prison to be prosecuted. Ray Edward Brookins, the former assistant superintendent at the Texas Youth Commission facility, was sentenced last April to 10 years in prison.
The allegations of abuse and subsequent investigations at the prison prompted the resignations or firings of several top state officials responsible for overseeing the state's juvenile prison system, and upended the commission. It led to accusations of a cover-up, reports exposing lax medical care, beatings, and a culture of retaliation against whistle-blowers. Lawmakers eventually ordered an overhaul of the system.
Jurors deliberated for about six hours before returning the not guilty verdicts on the 11 counts against John Paul Hernandez. He had faced up to 20 years in prison on the case's most serious offenses — sexual assault and improper relationship between educator and student — which are second-degree felonies.
Hernandez was accused of sexually abusing the young men in 2004 and 2005 at the West Texas State School in Pyote.
"Six years I've been waiting to hear those words," Hernandez said. "I've already served a six-year punishment and finally a weight has been lifted."
All of Hernandez's accusers testified against him, telling jurors that Hernandez talked to them about pornography and fetishes before fondling them and performing oral sex.
Hernandez took the stand in his own defense and denied their allegations, saying the young men lied in their statements to Texas Rangers investigators. Hernandez's attorney, Albert G. Valadez, has said the former inmates made up the allegations so they'd be released from the facility, which closed last summer.
A former corrections officer at the prison testified for the defense that she heard two inmates — one of them an accuser in the case — talking about fabricating allegations of sexual abuse so they could go home.
Hernandez was the second former administrator at the prison to be prosecuted. Ray Edward Brookins, the former assistant superintendent at the Texas Youth Commission facility, was sentenced last April to 10 years in prison.
The allegations of abuse and subsequent investigations at the prison prompted the resignations or firings of several top state officials responsible for overseeing the state's juvenile prison system, and upended the commission. It led to accusations of a cover-up, reports exposing lax medical care, beatings, and a culture of retaliation against whistle-blowers. Lawmakers eventually ordered an overhaul of the system.
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