Grand jurors covered the gamut against a man charged with rape, indicting him not only on the rape charge but also lesser included offenses of statutory rape and sexual battery by an authority figure.
The defendant, Alenjandro Hernandez, was indicted on the three different counts which span a large area in potential sentences. The lowest possible count, that of statutory rape, charges he had illegal, but consensual, sexual contact with a person under 18 and could face one to two years in prison. The next charge of sexual battery by an authority figure carries three to six years in prison and suggests he used his position or power over the girl to have sexual relations. The highest count, that of rape, charges he forced the girl into having sex.
The victim, a 16-year-old girl, says Hernandez forced himself on her after her older sister had left the residence where they were all staying. The man was dating her sister at the time.
“He came into my room and starting rubbing me,” the girl testified during preliminary hearing last month. “He had sex with me.”
However, perhaps bringing the indictments to the lesser included offenses, was her admission during her testimony that she never said the word “no” to Hernandez, nor did she resist in any way. She maintained she was afraid he would turn violent if she resisted although, on cross examination, she said she had never seen him be violent in the past.