Man convicted of child sexual abuse getting new trial

In a recent decision, Parker County District Judge Graham Quisenberry granted a new trial to a Springtown man, overturning a Parker County jury’s decision to convict him in May for repeatedly sexually abusing an 11-year-old. 

The jury convicted Aniceto Sanchez, 38, of continuous sexual abuse of a young child and set his sentence at 35 years in prison, a sentence that Texas law requires be served without benefit of parole.

District Attorney Jeff Swain appealed Quisenberry’s order to the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth.

Quisenberry set bail for Sanchez at $40,000. When Sanchez was originally arrested, his bond was set at $100,000, but Quisenberry reduced it to $60,000 in November, 2021, and Sanchez posted bond and remained out of custody prior to trial.

“Essentially, the judge changed his mind about rulings he made during trial, so he granted this convicted sex offender a new trial,” Swain said. “In trial, he allowed us to introduce outcry testimony from three witnesses, who told jurors what our victim told them about how Mr. Sanchez abused her. He has now decided that ruling was in error. 

"In our view, a judge should not grant a new trial just because he has second thoughts about a ruling he made during a trial. That’s what appeals are for. We believe the judge’s rulings during trial were correct under our state’s law, which allows for outcry testimony to be admitted in child sexual abuse cases as an exception to the hearsay rule.”

The district attorney’s office also filed a request for the court of appeals to increase Sanchez’s bond.

“If we do not get pretty quick relief from Judge Quisenberry’s bond order, this convicted sex offender is likely to be released on a bond a third lower than what he had before a jury heard his case and convicted him,” Swain said. “I don’t see how his flight risk would not be increased rather than decreased now that he has seen how a jury evaluated the evidence.

"Also, if we prevail in our appeal of the order granting a new trial, Mr. Sanchez, at age 39, will be imprisoned until he is 74-years-old. We need a bond high enough to ensure his return to face his sentence or a retrial,” Swain added. “Lost amidst the legal wrangling in a system focused on a defendant’s rights is the fact that, unless Judge Quisenberry’s order is overturned, a teenage girl is going to have to relive the worst thing that has ever happened to her in front of yet another dozen strangers."