Cortina Found Guilty On All Counts In Rape Retrial

By Doug Wernet

LAS CRUCES — Jose Luis Cortina was found guiltyThursday on all charges of raping and molesting a nine-year-old girl between 2004 and 2005.

Cortina faced 12 counts of criminal sexual penetration and 6 counts of criminal sexual contact. The accuser, now 12-years-old, took the stand during the retrial, testifying that Cortina assaulted her at home while the mother would be at work.

The young girl said she kept silent about the abuse for fear of harm that Cortina threatened against her and her mother. “I would tell him to stop touching me … I would cry and yell,” she said. “He would tell me not to yell because the neighbors would hear me and they would tell my mom.”

Cortina was tried in 2007, but that decision was deadlocked.