A Dallas man, Adrian Cortes, 61, has been slapped with a 60-year prison term for sexual assaults he perpetrated over two decades ago, in a decision that took jurors a mere 19 minutes to reach. According to Fox 4 News, the prosecution provided jurors with compelling DNA evidence and testimony from two brave women who survived Cortes' attacks.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot hailed the sentencing as a triumph for justice and survivor courage. "What a powerful display of courage and justice," Creuzot said in a statement obtained by Fox 4 News. "To hold the man responsible who committed these heinous crimes, and to have the women he assaulted aid in that process is simply remarkable." The DNA evidence critical to Cortes' conviction had gone untested until 2019 when the Dallas County’s Sex Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) finally examined the samples.
The first assault occurred in 1996 when Cortes, donning a ski mask, abducted a pregnant woman at gunpoint and raped her. The second incident in 2001 involved a mother being attacked while loading her three-year-old son into his car seat. Despite immediate reports and sexual assault examinations; the evidence was shelved for nearly two decades, according to Irving Weekly.
"Our sex assault team remains thankful for the money provided in the SAKI grant that allows this important work to be done," Creuzot said, acknowledging the federal funding that made the investigations of these cold cases possible. For too long, too many survivors have had to wait for their kits to be tested, thanks to our SAKI team, we are solving cases and seeking punishments to ensure these criminals don’t spend another second outside prison walls," he explained to Fox 4 News.
The SAKI Task Force, established in 2015 with more than $6.8 million in federal funding, aims to rectify past oversights by systematically testing over 4,000 unexamined kits from sexual assault and homicide cases. As detailed by Irving Weekly, this initiative has led to seven homicide-related sexual assault prosecutions, 128 various indictments, and the identification of 88 serial sexual offenders responsible for 671 victims. Survivors seeking information about the testing status of their sexual assault kits can contact [email protected] or call 972–955–4923.
