Texas man didn't report the kids tied up in his yard like dogs. He could get life
Deandre Dorch's lawyers argued he wasn't aware of the horrific abuse that was literally happening in his own backyard.
But a San Antonio jury didn't buy it Wednesday, and took just two hours to convict Dorch, 38, on two counts of injury to a child by omission and two more counts of child endangerment, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Dorch was the second defendant in a case where Bexar County Sheriff's deputies found a 4-year-old and a 3-year-old chained and tied like dogs, with piles of feces nearby, in the backyard of the home Dorch shared with his girlfriend on the Northeast Side of Bexar County in 2016.
That girlfriend, Porucha Phillips, 34, pleaded guilty to similar charges in October 2017 and was given a 50-year prison sentence. But because Dorch has a previous criminal record, the Express-News reported, Judge Laura Parker said she'll seek a life sentence when the sentencing phase of the trial begins next month.
Dorch flipped off television cameras as he was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs, saying "Y'all know I didn't do this s---," on his way back to jail, KSAT reported.
That claim of innocence after his conviction runs counter, though, to an earlier admission from Dorch, according to previous reporting from the Express News. Bexar County Sheriff's Office spokesman James Keith told the newspaper that Dorch admitted to investigators that he did not seek help for the two children after he saw their mother, Cheryl Reed, whip them with switches while they were tied and chained outside his home, because he's "not a snitch."
Reed, who left her two young children in the couple's care while she was living in California at the time, is still awaiting trial.
During the trial, Bexar County deputy Louis Estrada wept on the stand while describing the conditions he found the two children in on April 28, 2016. Six other children, including some who were Dorch and Phillips' kids, were also rescued from the home at the time, after Estrada found them alone in the house when he arrived.
KABB reported that the 3-year old was tied to the back door of the house along Chipping Street, in the Camelot II subdivision, by a pink dog leash, so tightly that she was unable to put her arms down. The 4-year-old was found chained at the ankle elsewhere in the yard.
The chain was presented as evidence in the case against Dorch.
"It was loud crying, it started off, and then the crying got lower, lower," neighbor Michelle Williams, who reported the abuse to authorities, said on the witness stand, according to KSAT. "Like the baby was tired of crying, but still moaning because apparently there was something wrong."
A pre-sentencing hearing for Dorch has been set for May 18.
This story was originally published April 19, 2018 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Texas man didn't report the kids tied up in his yard like dogs. He could get life."