Jury finds Holcombe guilty of kidnapping, raping girl

A jury found Carlos Holcombe guilty of one count of aggravated kidnapping, three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child.

The guilty verdict comes after a powerful closing argument from prosecutors in which they reflected on the emotional testimony from the victim back on Wednesday. The now 14-year-old girl testifying that she didn’t know if she would see her family again.

Prosecutors brought out evidence to close out their argument, showing the jury the weapon Holcombe used to force the victim in the car and the duct tape he used to tap up the victim during the sexual assault.

The defense only using minutes for their closing argument as the attorney thanked the jurors for their time and wished them luck during the deliberation.

Trial is in recess and the sentencing phase of the trial is set to resume Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.

Holcombe now faces 5-99 years in prison for the aggravated kidnapping. He is facing an additional 5-99 in prison for each of the three aggravated sexual assault of a child; and 2-20 years for indecency with a child.

ORIGINAL STORY:

The defense and the state have rested their cases in the trial of Carlos Holcombe. Closing arguments are expected to begin when the trial resumes later this afternoon.

In 2014, the 43-year-old Holcombe was accused of kidnapping a 12-year-old girl at Horizon High School, then taking her to his home where he raped her.

Defense attorneys were scheduled to present their case this past Thursday, but the judge ruled their first witness, a therapist, was not qualified to take the stand. Prosecutors argued the therapist could not prove a level of insanity, mental disease or defect on Holcombe’s part.

An attorney who spoke with ABC-7’s Evan Folan Monday said the judge scratched Dr. James Schutte, another “expert witness,” from testifying Monday morning. The defense had no other witness to testify on behalf of Holcombe and had no choice but to rest its case.

The court reporter told ABC-7 the defense planned to build an insanity case with the help of its two witnesses. The judge blocked the witnesses from testifying during the “guilty or innocent” phase of the trial, especially, since the defense acknowledged its client raped the girl during opening arguments. The defense will ask that its two witnesses be allowed to testify during the sentencing phase, the court reporter said.

Holcombe’s alleged victim testified in court last Wednesday and fought back tears as she described the ordeal.

“I went to school, went back home and did my chores, then went to a football game,” the victim said, “A man (at the game) approached me and told me he needed help getting boxes out of his car.”

When prosecutors asked the girl why she helped the man (Holcombe) she said, “I thought I was being nice.”

The girl said she followed Holcombe to his truck and he asked her what he was doing at the football game. “It was creepy. He was acting strange,” she said.

Holcombe allegedly told the girl he dropped something inside his truck and she reached for it. That is when she realized Holcombe didn’t need her help. “He had a gun pointed at my back. I started to cry, and he told me to keep quiet and get in the truck. I felt like he was going to hurt me if I didn’t. He told me he was going to kill me,” the victim recounted.

The victim told jurors Holcombe pointed the gun at her head while driving his SUV. When the vehicle stopped, Holcombe allegedly asked the girl to take off her clothes, then used duct tape to tie her hands and blindfold her.

“He carried me upstairs, I felt like we went into a bedroom,” the victims said, later telling jurors Holcombe touched and kissed her before raping her.

The victim began to cry as she recounted the horrible experience in court. “I started crying and grabbed a pillow, and started crying into the pillow,” she said.

The girl said Holcombe wiped her down, forced her back into a vehicle, then dropped her off in Far East El Paso.

“When I heard the vehicle take off, I started running. I saw a group of teenagers and I asked them where I was,” she said, “They started laughing and said we were at a movie theater.”

When prosecutors asked the victim if she could identify the man who kidnapped raped her, the victim pointed at Holcombe.

“I was wondering if I was ever going to go home to my family,” the girl said when asked what was going through her mind during the ordeal.

Earlier Wednesday, the jury heard from the investigators and crime lab technicians. Detectives with the El Paso County Sheriffs Office testified to how they searched for evidence about the crime, eventually ending up at Holcombe’s home after he was found to match the description of the suspect in the case.

Detective Jorge Andrade described surveillance video he viewed, taken from a house across the street from Holcombe’s on Aug. 22, 2014, the date of the alleged crime. The video was shown to the jury, including Holcombe arriving in his black Chevy Avalanche in the afternoon.

“At 17:43, we see the black truck arrive at the house,” Andrade said. “(Holcombe) opens the garage door… Backs into the garage then closes it.”

Andrade further detailed the movement of vehicles around the house and garage, including the movement of the Avalanche and a white Land Rover SUV around the driveway, side yard and garage. Holcombe allegedly took the victim in the back of an SUV to his home and raped her in the garage after tying her hands and covering her eyes with duct tape.