To help sex trafficking survivors, Legislature should make this change in Texas law

It feels like déjà vu.

I wrote a column in July 2019 about a juvenile female in Tarrant County who was convicted of burglary and capital murder when she was 17 years old, sentenced to 20 years, then transferred from juvenile justice to adult prison. A year and a half later, there’s a similar case in Dallas County.

These cases and others like them continue to reveal a major gap in Texas law: affirmative defense for human trafficking crimes.

In August 2019 Zephi Trevino, then 16 years old, was with two 18 year old males, Philip Aguilera Baldenegro and Jesse Martinez, when an attempted burglary ended in murder. Baldenegro admits to pulling the trigger. Trevino, however, faces capital murder and aggravated robbery charges.

Trevino’s attorney contends that she is a victim of sex trafficking at the hands of Baldenegro, that she was being forced into acts of prostitution, and that the men who were shot were coming to engage in commercial sex acts with her. Baldenegro’s attorney denies these allegations, arguing Trevino and Baldenegro were in a romantic relationship.

The case files are sealed because Trevino is a minor, but Baldenegro’s defense attorney is quoted as saying, “What about all these pictures of you [Trevino] smoking dope and having sex with all these other guys? Were you forced to do all of that?”

I have researched the issue of sex trafficking for 15 years. I have interviewed more than 350 survivors of child sex trafficking across the U.S. I have read more than 1,500 federal indictments of human trafficking crimes, I have interviewed traffickers in federal prisons, and I have started a business to provide jobs to sex trafficking survivors.

What I know beyond a doubt from all this work is that traffickers are masterful at grooming and coercing their victims. They are brilliant manipulators who can get their victims to do almost anything for them.

Victims may commit criminal acts on behalf of the trafficker for many different reasons: love, loyalty, threats, fear, drugs. It is imperative that we understand the psychological dynamics of sex trafficking in order to accurately diagnose it.

It is also critical to understand that, under Texas law, if Trevino — a minor — was engaging in acts of prostitution by any means, that would make her a victim of sex trafficking. The state does not allow an affirmative defense provision for human trafficking, though.

Such a defense would negate criminal liability of a victim-defendant if credible information is presented that he or she was forced by the trafficker to commit a crime, even if evidence shows that the defendant did so. Thirty-one states have such a law, and the Legislature could easily amend the Texas Penal Code to allow for affirmative defense in human trafficking crimes.

Ultimately, an affirmative defense provision signals that the state understands the complexity of psychological coercion in sex trafficking crimes. If the Texas Legislature truly wants to champion the cause of sex trafficking victims, enacting this law would be a no-brainer.