A jury in Atascosa County sentenced a 48-year-old man to 35 years in prison this week for the continuous sexual abuse of two family members, a term that will keep him locked up until roughly his 82nd birthday because Texas law bars any chance of parole for the offense. Benito Gutierrez was found guilty of abusing the two victims beginning in 2009 and continuing through 2017, according to court records.
The abuse came to light in October 2022, when the two survivors disclosed what had happened, according to the seed story published by WOAI. Those disclosures prompted an investigation by the Jourdanton Police Department, according to the 81st Judicial District Attorney. A grand jury indicted Gutierrez in September 2024, and he was formally charged under docket number 24-09-0284-CRA in the 81st-218th District Courts.
A Punishment Range From 25 Years to Life
Prosecutors faced a punishment range of 25 to 99 years or life in prison and asked jurors to impose 95 years, while the defense argued for the statutory minimum of 25 years. The case went to trial.
Jurors ultimately settled on 35 years, well below what prosecutors sought. Post-trial interviews with jurors revealed they weighed Gutierrez's age, 48, along with Texas's mandatory day-for-day sentencing rule, in choosing that number over the requested 95 years, the district attorney's office reported. Because of that rule, Gutierrez will be approximately 82 years old upon release.
Why Parole Isn't an Option
Texas law makes Gutierrez ineligible for parole for his entire 35-year term. Texas Government Code Section 508.145(a) explicitly lists offenses under Texas Penal Code Section 21.02, the statute covering continuous sexual abuse of a young child, as ineligible for parole release, requiring offenders to serve 100 percent of their actual calendar time without credit for good conduct, according to Texas.Public.Law.
The charge itself dates back to a 2007 overhaul of state sentencing law. The offense of continuous sexual abuse of a young child was created by the 80th Texas Legislature that year under House Bill 8, commonly known as Jessica's Law, which established a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison, according to the BHW Law Firm. The offense carries a 25-year mandatory minimum sentence, per Versus Texas.
How Continuous Abuse Cases Reach a Verdict
Cases like this one carry a distinct evidentiary standard from other sexual assault charges. Under Texas Penal Code Section 21.02(d), jurors do not need to agree unanimously on the specific dates or specific acts of abuse committed — they need only reach a unanimous finding that two or more acts occurred over a period of 30 days or more, according to Saputo Toufexis.
District Attorney Audrey Gossett Louis has led the 81st Judicial District Attorney's Office since 2017. Jourdanton, where the investigation began, is the county seat of Atascosa County, which had a 2020 Census population of 48,981, according to the Texas Association of Counties.
