The efforts of Attorney General Paxton’s Criminal Prosecution Division have led to repeat sex offender Daniel Barbosa, 37, being sentenced to 18 years in prison by Judge Jennifer Pena from the 290th District Court of Bexar County, Texas. Attorneys General Dorian C. Cotlar and Anna Lee McNelis represented the State of Texas in the case.
In April of 2019, the Defendant was released from prison after serving a sentence for Indecency with a Child by Exposure. Nine days after his release, the Defendant met a victim to whom he served alcohol tainted with drugs, which sedated the victim. He then sexually assaulted the victim. The victim reported the assault to law enforcement and sought medical treatment. A routine drug screen during that process revealed the presence of four different illegal drugs that she did not knowingly ingest.
On the morning of the trial, the Defendant elected to change his plea to “guilty” and elected to have his punishment assessed by the court. The parties negotiated a punishment range of 5–18 years in prison, and the case was set for sentencing. Despite his plea of “guilty,” the Defendant refused to accept responsibility during both his pre-sentence interview and at the sentencing hearing. After hearing from the victim, the Defendant’s mother and aunt, Judge Pena called the Defendant “dangerous” and sentenced him to the negotiated maximum sentence of 18 years.
The Office of the Attorney General represented the State as the District Attorney Pro Tem of Bexar County, Texas, due to the elected District Attorney’s having represented the Defendant in his prior sexual assault case.