Emily Detoto, TLC ’01
Grad. July 11, 2012
Ranulfo Castro was living with one woman but seeing another
woman who had three daughters. He had
three grown children of his own. He knew
it was wrong to be living with one woman, while seeing another, but that didn't
make him a child molester. He worked two
jobs: one as a landscaper and another as a mechanic. He worked these jobs to support himself, his
common law wife, his children, and his girlfriend and her children.
Ranulfo met the mother of the girl who would eventually
accuse him of sexually assaulting her over a month's time, because he was
working on her car. Her name was
Sandra. Sandra and Ranulfo hit it off
and she began sharing personal stories about herself, and the two began
speaking almost daily. About two weeks
after Sandra and Ranulfo met, Ranulfo learned that Sandra was engaged to
another man, and that she was going to move, along with her children and this
man, to Seguin, Texas, a small town outside of San Antonio. Ranulfo said goodbye to Sandra and didn't
expect to hear from her again. But a
short time later, he received a call from Sandra, telling him that the
relationship with this man didn't work out.
Sandra asked Ranulfo if he would please drive all the way to Seguin to
retrieve her and her children because they had no money and no way to make it
back to Houston. Ranulfo agreed, and he
drove all the way to Seguin, Texas to pick up Sandra and her daughters, and
helped them get an apartment, and eventually began supporting Sandra and her
family. He paid their rent, bought them
food, clothing, and became like a father figure to the family.
Eventually, Ranulfo began falling behind on his own bills
and responsibilities because he was so busy trying to please Sandra and pay her
bills. Eventually, he decided he would
not afford to pay the monthly expenses Sandra required, and he let Sandra know
as much. Shortly thereafter, Ranulfo was
accused of sexually assaulting Sandra's 8 year old daughter, VF. He was accused of performing oral sex on VF
and also of having sex with VF over a period of more than a month. According to
the offense report and the testimony told the jury at Ranulfo's trial, Sandra
didn't immediately call the police when her daughter allegedly told her about
the abuse. Instead, Sandra waited one
whole day before calling the police.
When the HPD police officer came, he tried to interview Sandra and her
daughter, but neither of them spoke English, and he didn't speak Spanish, so he
had another one of Sandra's daughters, who was around 14 years old, translate
for VF and Sandra, and what was told was a horrific story of abuse and threats
Ranulfo allegedly made to VF, that if she told anyone, Ranulfo would stop
paying Sandra's rent. The police office collected no evidence from the
scene. They failed to take the blanket
form the sofa where the alleged sexual assault had allegedly taken place just
the very day before, nor did the police officer collect the clothing VF was
wearing the day Ranulfo allegedly sexually assaulted her.
VF was examined by the Dr's at Texas Children's Hospital,
where there was no DNA found, nor was there any injury to the child's
"private parts."
Ranulfo gave two video taped statements to the police who
were investigating his case. In each
tape, he maintained his innocence and told the police how he believed these
ladies were making this story up for financial motives. It was the typical story of greed and
revenge. It is no wonder, that the DA's
office did NOT introduce Ranulfo's exculpatory statements into evidence. And because they were his own statements, I,
as his lawyer could not introduce them into evidence at his trial.
Ranulfo waited over 2.5 years for his day in court and over
the course of two days we picked a jury out of 170 people. This jury understood that not all allegations
of child sexual assault were true. This
jury also understood that children can lie and that a mother can be so consumed
with rage, greed and the need for revenge that she can force her child to lie,
especially if the child was dependent on the mom. This jury promised me that they would not
lower the State's burden of proof just because it was a serious allegation and
they also understood that this charge was the easiest to accuse someone of, and
the hardest to defend yourself against.
In my closing argument, I let the jury know that when they
went home and told their friends and family that they found Ranulfo not guilty
of aggravated sexual assault of a child, that their friends and family would
make fun of them, be mad at them, call them cowards, soft on crime, and
un-American. I told them that they could proudly go home and look those
people in the eye and tell them that they swore to uphold their oath and hold
the Government to the highest burden in law, and that they could not in good
conscience brand Ranulfo a felon, a child molester and possibly sentence him to
LIFE in prison, based upon what the evidence the State brought them. I then laid out why they could be proud of
their verdict they were about to render, and I gave them permission to be a
hero!!!!!
After about 9 hours of deliberations over two days, the jury
sent us a note indicating they were deadlocked on one charge, and that vote
never changed. The judge then brought
the jury in, and they returned one verdict of not guilty in the count alleging
Ranulfo performed oral sex on VF and I then moved and was granted a mis-trial
on the cause they were deadlocked on.
We are scheduled to re-try the deadlocked case on November
29, 2012.
Emily Detoto
TLC 2001
Houston
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