A Texas man accused of drugging, raping and impregnating a 16-year-old girl has been released from jail on $1 bond — after prosecutors missed a deadline to charge him by two days.
Luis Sanchez, 25, walked out of the Harris County jail Thursday – three months after his arrest on charges of felony sexual assault of a child.
In the Lone Star State, prosecutors are required to seek an indictment within 90 days of a suspect being in custody.
If an indictment is not obtained from the grand jury within the allotted time, by law the defendant must be given a “reasonable or personal recognizance bond.”
Since Sanchez is listed in court records as indigent, a judge granted his attorney’s petition to lower his bond amount to $1 this week.
The mother of an alleged rape victim slammed Sanchez’s release on bond as a “horrible miscarriage of justice” in an interview with ABC13, where her voice was changed to protect her family.
Luis Sanchez, 25, accused of drugging, raping and impregnating a 16-year-old girl, is out of the Harris County jail after posting $1 bond.
A grand jury indicted Sanchez in late August — two days past the 90-day deadline allowed under state law.ABC 13
In April 2022, Sanchez invited the teenage girl and her siblings to his home in Houston Heights to play a game. During the visit, he allegedly gave the 16-year-old a Smirnoff vodka drink, according to court records cited by the Fox 26 station.
He then allegedly sent the girl’s siblings home but said she could spend the night at his house.
Three months later, the teenager found out she was pregnant and told her mother to take her to hospital, after telling her: “Luis gave me medicine and raped me.”
The teenager later told officers that during the night he slept, he passed out after drinking vodka and then woke up naked in bed next to Sanchez.
A judge lowered Sanchez’s bond to $1 because he is listed in court records as indigent. ABC 13
The alleged rape resulted in a pregnancy — and a DNA test confirmed that Sanchez was the baby girl’s biological father.
Sanchez was arrested in May – more than a year after the alleged rape. He was released from jail Thursday afternoon with an ankle monitor and placed under house arrest at a shelter.
But the mother of the alleged victim said she believes Sanchez’s release conditions are not enough to keep the public safe from him.
“God willing, if he comes off the ankle monitor, he will be gone in an instant,” he said.
The woman also said her daughter was “scared” that Sanchez might try to find her.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office said that the conditions of Sanchez’s release include an ankle monitor and house arrest.ABC 13
“We feel blindsided, because we feel comfortable with the fact that he was initially given $75,000 bond, because we can sleep at night knowing he can’t make that bond,” the mother said, referring to the suspect’s initial bond amount.
Sanchez is due back in court in November.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
