By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A Del Rio man was found guilty of two counts of indecency with a child following a trial in state district court here this week.
The jury, made up of six women and six men, deliberated for just over an hour Wednesday before returning two guilty verdicts in the trial of Juan Manuel Casares Sr., 59, who was accused of fondling two girls. One of the girls was nine years old when the incidents occurred, and the other girl was 15 years old.
District Attorney Suzanne West presented the state’s case against Casares, and Casares was represented by his appointed attorney, Alberto Ramon of Eagle Pass.
The 63rd Judicial District Judge Robert E. Cadena presided over the trial.
Before Cadena had the jury brought into the courtroom Tuesday morning, he cautioned Casares, telling him it was important for him to be present during his trial, but saying he could only stay in the courtroom if he refrained from speaking or making any outbursts. A source present in the courtroom during jury selection on Monday told the 830 Times Casares had repeatedly tried to speak during that process.
When the jury was brought in on Tuesday morning, West gave her opening statement, telling jurors that Casares had been in a relationship with a woman he met while working at a local restaurant.
“(She) was a hard worker, and Mr. Casares was a fast talker,” West said.
She told the jury Casares and the woman moved in together in 2017 and said the woman’s nine-year-old and 15-year-old daughters were repeatedly touched by Casares during the time they lived with him.
West said the daughters were at first afraid to come forward because Casares threatened to kill their mother.
Ramon did not give an opening statement at the start of the trial, asking to give his statement before presenting his case.
West’s first witness was the girl who had been nine years old when Casares touched her.
Now 14, the girl described an incident when Casares instructed her to sit on his lap, then grasped her breasts.
During cross-examination, Ramon asked the girl why she had not told her mother about the incident immediately.
“I was embarrassed. I was scared and embarrassed,” the girl replied.
West also called the girls’ mother to the stand.
The woman testified about how she met Casares and told the jury about the course of their relationship. She also testified about how her nine-year-old daughter had eventually told her about Casares touching her and how she had then ended her relationship with him.
West next called the daughter who had been 15 when Casares touched her.
Now 21, she testified that Casares had fondled her breasts through her clothing while she slept in her bedroom and recounted other occasions when Casares slid his hands up her legs while she was wearing a dress and touched her buttocks under her pajama bottoms. She also told the jury Casares threatened to kill her mother if she told anyone.
West’s final witness was one of her own investigators, Michelle Salinas, who investigated the accusations against Casares while she worked as a detective for the Del Rio Police Department.
While Salinas was on the stand, West played a video shot during an interview Salinas conducted with Casares.
During the interview, Casares repeatedly denied touching his girlfriend’s daughters and repeatedly volunteered to take a lie detector test.
Also during the interview, Casares admitted to having his girlfriend’s daughters sit on his lap and “hugging them.”
In cross examination, Ramon asked Salinas about not administering the lie detector test requested by Casares, and Salinas explained the results of such a test are not admissible in court, but noted they can be used as an investigative tool.
West rested her case following Salinas’ cross-examination, which ended Wednesday morning.
Ramon’s case for the defense began with his opening statement. In it, he thanked jurors for their time and attention and said that everyone wants to make sure children are protected.
“Our contention is that this investigation (of the Casares case) is flawed,” Ramon said, adding the state attempted to paint his client as a shiftless drunk when there was no evidence of that.
Ramon asked jurors to keep an open mind and listen while he presented his case.
Ramon first called his client to the stand.
Casares, who, despite the fact that he appeared to understand English, asked to testify through the court’s Spanish translator, Teresa Faz.
Casares spoke about his life and work, as a dishwasher and a truck driver. He spoke about previously going to federal prison and testified he believed his girlfriend did not know how to raise daughters.
“I tried to be a father to them,” Casares said of his girlfriend’s daughters, testifying that he insisted they do their chores and bought them school supplies and clothes and gave them money when they asked for it.
Finally, Ramon asked his client, “Did you improperly touch these girls, yes or no?”
“Never,” Casares replied.
In cross-examining Casares, West questioned him at length about the criminal charges he had been previously convicted, his life with his girlfriend and the video made during his interrogation by Salinas.
Ramon also called Casares’ son, Juan Manuel Casares Jr., to testify.
The younger Casares called his father “a good, hard-working man” and said he had never seen his father improperly touch a child.
West had no questions for the younger Casares, and after his testimony concluded about 2 p.m. Wednesday, the defense rested its case.
West and Ramon then made closing statements to the jury, and Cadena read a series of instructions to the jury.
The jury began its deliberations at 3:20 p.m. Wednesday, and its foreman notified the court bailiff it had reached a verdict just before 4:30 p.m.
