Texas man gets decades in prison on domestic violence charges
Javier Esteban Rivera (Hays County)
HAYS COUNTY, Texas - A Texas man has been sentenced to decades in prison after a Hays County jury convicted him on multiple domestic violence charges.
What we know:
32-year-old Javier Esteban Rivera was sentenced to 40 years on two counts of assault family violence – repeat offender and one count of violation of a protective order – two or more times in 12 months, all against the same person.
He entered a plea bargain, waiving his right to appeal and accepted the sentence instead of allowing the jury to set his punishment, says the county.
The backstory:
Evidence presented at trial included surveillance footage from a parking lot showing Rivera punching a woman in the face and dragging her by her hair.
The jury also heard jail recordings of Rivera admitting to the assault and a 911 call from the woman's mother in which the victim was heard screaming in the background.
The victim testified that Rivera had been choking, punching and kicking her during that call.
The county says that Rivera had stipulated to the fact he had been convicted of assault family violence in the past and pled true to allegations he had been to prison on at least two separate occasions.
Hays County court records show Rivera had previously been charged with criminal trespass, assault causing bodily injury to a family member and violation of a bond/protective order in the county.
What they're saying:
Hays County Assistant District Attorneys Jon English and Cassidy Story prosecuted the case.
"It was far past time that Javier Rivera spent a serious number of years in prison," English said in a release. "He’s a dangerous, violent predator who did horrible things to his victims. Because of the courage of those victims in coming forward, today, he is locked up where he can’t hurt anyone else. Justice was served in this case."
"The defendant spent his life trying to control others, but he couldn’t control the jury that finally held him accountable," Story added.
The Source: Information in this report comes from Hays County and court records.