BOERNE — A state district judge Friday night declared a mistrial for a 67-year-old Mexican national accused of sexually assaulting a minor child.
A seven-woman, five-man Kendall County jury seated in the weeklong case deliberated 14 hours over two days but failed to reach a verdict in the 451st state District Court, leading visiting Judge Kasey Jones to rule a mistrial.
Adrian Santillian was booked into the county jail March 17 on a charge of sex abuse of a child continuous, with the victim being under the age of 14, according to court records.
Santillian, dressed in a suit, showed no emotion when Jones delivered news of the hung jury. The defendant maintained a neutral expression during most of the trial, which began Monday.
Reached after the proceedings ended, Assistant Criminal District Attorney Andrew Fields declined to comment if the District Attorney would pursue a new trial.
“Thank you for all your hard work and working late hours,” Jones told the jurors before she released them.
The case was launched by the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office after deputies received an outcry, according to court records.
During the week, jurors heard emotional testimonies from a 14-year-old girl identified by prosecutors as the victim, her mother and an older girl.
The court was told Santillian is currently serving a 10-year sentence after accepting a plea deal in another case where he was accused of sexually abusing a minor.
The Star does not identify victims of sexual abuse.
Defense attorneys attempted to paint a different picture of the current case for jurors, arguing the victim’s mother had other reasons for seeing Santillian go to prison.
The jury during its deliberations sent several questions out to the court and requested to review testimony from the victim and Child Protective Service workers.
About 3 p.m. Friday, the jury had a note delivered to Jones saying they could not reach a unanimous verdict.
The judge asked the panel to continue deliberations a little longer. Four hours later, the jury came back with the same answer: They could not find consensus on guilt or not guilty.
Check out the Wednesday, Oct. 8, edition of The Star for more details on the court case.
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