On Tuesday, July 15, Edna resident Gerald Lee Manzanalez Jr., 37, was convicted by a Jackson County jury of Attempted Sexual Assault of a Child, and Attempted Indecency with a Child. Both offenses are third-degree felonies.
Judge Julie Bauknight handed Manzanalez the maximum available sentence, 10 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for each conviction, to run concurrently. He will have credit for 530 days already served.
During the two-day trial, Assistant District Attorney Tom Dillard called several witnesses, including the reported victim, a relative of Manzanalez, who was given the pseudonym Misty Miles by the court due to her status as a minor.
Miles’ mother also testified, as well as multiple law enforcement officers and a forensic interviewer from Hope of South Texas, who had interviewed Miles.
According to testimony, Manzanalez attempted to sexually assault Miles in her bed when she was a young teen. Miles testified that she physically pushed him off of her with her foot, after which Manzanalez left the room to go outside.
She stated she had to physically fight to keep Manzanalez out of her room while he argued that he needed back in the house to charge his phone to watch pornography. She said she eventually observed someone in the house moving around and screamed for her mother, causing Manzanalez to leave.
She also testified there had been two previous incidents in her young childhood when Manzanalez had touched her inappropriately on her thigh.
Defense Attorney Chris Iles called only one witness - Gerald Manzanalez Jr. himself.
Manzanalez testified the events did not happen, giving vague and at times rambling answers to questions during both direct and cross examination.
When asked if he attempted to assault Miles, Manzanalez replied, “not that I know of.” He cited his own age as “37, 38, something like that,” and claimed to not know the age of his daughter.
The defense leaned on reasonable doubt, arguing the witness testimony was insufficient to meet the burden of proof necessary for a conviction. Even so, the jury took just over 20 minutes to return with two guilty verdicts.
Judge Bauknight cited Manzanalez’ demeanor in the courtroom as a notable contributor to her sentencing decision, saying he “almost seemed to experience pleasure” in hearing the testimony, and called it “unfortunate” that the maximum sentence available was 10 years.
Manzanalez must serve a quarter of his sentence before he is eligible for parole, according to Assistant District Attorney Stephen Tyler.
Adjusted for potential good conduct, Tyler said he could possibly be out of prison in “a year and a quarter.”
Manzanalez has filed to appeal the conviction.
Manzanalez
