Mart man pleads guilty to sexually abusing young relative, sentenced to 60 years in prison

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A Mart man on trial for sexually abusing a young family member, and suspected of abusing three others, changed his not guilty plea to guilty Wednesday after hearing the strength of his victim’s testimony.

Justin Randall Sauceda, 35, was sentenced to 60 years in prison with no hope for parole Wednesday after he and his attorney worked out a mid-trial plea agreement with the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office.

Sauceda cried at the counsel table while court officials drafted his plea papers. However, prosecutor Tara Avants, who tried the case with Will Hix, said Sauceda clearly was crying for himself, not his young family member who he sexually abused over a four or five-year period.

“After experiencing the strength of the victim’s testimony, the defendant knew his fate was sealed,” Avants said. “We hope the finality of the plea agreement allows all of the courageous victims to find closure and begin healing from the abuse they endured.”

Avants said if the trial had gone to the punishment phase, she and Hix planned to call three more of Sauceda’s relatives, who were prepared to testify he sexually abused them, too.

Sauceda’s attorney, Sandy Gately, said her client and his mother asked her to approach the DA’s office about a possible plea offer after the girl, who is now 18, spent about an hour on the witness stand Wednesday morning.

“My client agreed to that because the evidence from the victim was very strong and very believable, and we felt it would be in his best interest to resolve this and take it away from the jury at this time,” Gately said.

Sauceda rejected a 40-year plea offer to aggravated sexual assault of a child that would have given him the possibility of parole after 20 years several weeks before his trial in Waco’s 19th State District Court.

In testimony Wednesday, the young woman testified that she was 6 or 7 when Sauceda first sexually assaulted her, adding that the abuse was more frequent on occasions when he was drunk.

She said the abuse occurred at a trailer house in Mart and lasted until she was about 12. Sauceda told her not to report the abuse, telling her that she and he both would get into trouble.

“I would pray to God and say, ‘Please don’t be mad at me.’ I thought God was mad at me and that is why it was happening. I finally told (another family member) because I knew it wasn’t right.”

The young woman said a movie about a woman who was kidnaped and sexually assaulted hit too closely to home and prompted her to report Sauceda’s actions.

“I was growing up and realizing what was happening,” she said. “I had time to understand what really was happening to me. Before, I was too young to know how wrong it was.”

Sauceda promised to take her to the dollar store and buy her toys and candy in exchange for the abuse, she said. At times, Sauceda would cry and apologize to her “for doing those terrible things to me,” she said.

“I just don’t understand how someone could do that and not feel horrible,” she said. “I have to get this out so I can move on.”

As the abuse continued and before her outcries, the girl said she cut her arms as her way of asking for help and considered jumping from the roof of the house one year while helping put up Christmas lights.

Sauceda has misdemeanor convictions for theft, furnishing alcohol to a minor, assault family violence, driving while license invalid and tattoos prohibited for person under 18 with a false ID.

Sauceda was not indicted in the sexual abuse of the other three family members. Avants said prosecutors discovered the additional victims while preparing for Sauceda’s trial. The victims told the DA’ office that Sauceda abused them when they were between the ages of 8 and 12.

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