On April 2, 2010, the Honorable Judge Lloyd Hicks sentenced 24-year-old Abel Aguirre of Visalia to 56 years to life in prison for the brutal rape of a 17-year-old girl.

On February 1, 2010, a jury found Aguirre guilty of raping a girl who was walking to a friend’s house. After the jury found the defendant guilty of rape, the court conducted a separate bench trial to determine whether the defendant had prior convictions for purposes of sentencing. The judge found that the defendant was a habitual sexual offender and that he suffered a prior sex offense, a prior strike, a prior serious felony, and that he served a prior prison term.

The charges stem from an incident that occurred on August 23, 2008. On that date, the defendant followed the 17-year-old victim down a Visalia street in the middle of the night. He punched her and pushed her into some bushes where he raped her. He told her he was sorry before he ran off into the night. After the crime, he fled to the state of Washington.

During the trial, the jury also heard testimony from a previous victim of the defendant. In 2004, when this victim was just 12 years old, she was sexually battered by the defendant. The incident occurred in a local Visalia drug store.

At the sentencing, the victim told her assailant, “I have been told, I will be okay and I will come out standing taller. Well, I am here today and I am standing tall, sometimes weak in the knees, but I am here.”

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Mikki Verissimo and was investigated by Detective Steve Howerton of the Visalia Police Department and Investigator Barry Silva from the District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigations.

Contact Person: Shani D. Jenkins, Assistant District Attorney (559) 733-6411.