Warren Scott Jones could spend up to four decades in prison after a jury in the 451st state District Court found him guilty on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child.
The three-day trial featured testimony from two siblings who reported being sexually abused in 2024 when they were between 5 and 7 years old.
Jones, 77, was handed the concurrent 40-year sentences Thursday in the case before Judge Kirsten B. Cohoon.
Testimony from the younger victim, however, challenged the prosecution's case.
During questioning, the child repeatedly answered, "I don't know" or "No" when asked whether the abuser had ever made her uncomfortable.
Assistant District Attorney Andrew Fields and state prosecutor Steven Belt countered that testimony with expert witness Tori Hefley, a certified forensic interviewer, who said such behavior is common among child victims.
"Anyone can shut down, being asked questions over and over again," Hefley said, explaining that children who disclose abuse often undergo multiple interviews. "By the time they come to me, I am asking a lot of details."
During closing arguments, defense attorney John Helms pointed to the younger victim's testimony and suggested she had followed her older sister's account. Helms also highlighted portions of a forensic interview in which the older sister described the abuse as a dream.
"No person should be convicted of a horrible crime based on a dream that spirals out of control, and that is what happened here," Helms said. "There is no medical or forensic evidence."
Prosecutors argued testimony from the older child showed she later realized the abuse had not been a dream after an assailant attempted to violate her again when she was 11.
“I cannot fathom that these girls would come up with such a nasty, disgusting lie against someone they loved," Fields said, adding the children had nothing to gain from reporting the abuse.
The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for about seven hours Wednesday before returning guilty verdicts.
Jones was originally indicted in 2024 on a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony carrying a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
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