HOUSTON – A Montgomery County man with a past filled with sexual crimes was sentenced to 80 years in prison on Thursday for sexually assaulting a disabled woman in 2019.
A jury found Raul Longoria, 63, guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a disabled person on Wednesday.
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At the time of Longoria’s crime, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said Longoria was residing near Grangerland in eastern Montgomery County. Longoria’s victim was a 31-year-old woman whose mental capacity was approximately that of an 8-year-old. In 2011, the woman was deemed legally incapable of caring for her basic needs, and a the time of the offense in 2019, she was living in her mother’s care. Longoria was residing in a garage apartment on the same property as the victim and the mother.
On May 7, 2019, while the victim’s mother was away, authorities said Longoria entered the victim’s residence with the intent of sexual assault. The victim attempted to defend herself with a nearby pair of scissors, but Longoria overpowered her and used a stun-gun on the victim to subdue her and then proceeded to violate her. When Longoria left for a moment, the victim used the opportunity to escape. She did so by running barefoot in a severe rainstorm to a store about a quarter of a mile away where she used the clerk’s phone to call the police.
The jury found Longoria guilty after less than 30 minutes of deliberation.
In the sentencing phase of the trial, prosecutors presented evidence of another sexual assault. In 1983 in Harris County, Longoria left a woman for dead in a ditch after beating, raping, and slitting her throat with a knife. Longoria received a 20-year prison sentence after a plea to attempted murder, but he was released on parole in 1989. At the time Longoria committed the sexual assault and attempted murder, he was on probation for another, previously committed in felony. Prosecutors presented the victim from the 1983 attack to the judge. The victim of that brutal attack discussed how the crime had impacted her life. As part of this testimony, the victim displayed the scar on her neck from the assault.
Prosecutors also presented evidence that Longoria received a six-year prison sentence for the felony offense of driving while intoxicated in 1995.
Longoria will have to serve 40 years in prison before first becoming eligible for parole in 2061. At that time, he will be 103 years old.
“This verdict and sentence means the defendant will die in prison, and he will never be able to hurt another innocent person again,” Prosecutor Philip Teissier said. “When he dies, he likely will be quickly forgotten, but the courage and strength of the victims will live on forever. During this trial, the resiliency they showed was awe-inspiring, and we at the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office were honored to obtain some measure of justice for them. We also want to thank the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Children’s Safe Harbor, the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab, Montgomery County Hospital District, and Memorial Hermann Hospital for their help in seeking justice in this case.”
“This case demonstrates the need for serious sentences for serious offenses,” District Attorney Brett Ligon added in a news release statement. “Perhaps if Mr. Longoria spent more time in prison for his first violent rape, the second would never have occurred. In any case, the victims, our office, and county law enforcement has done all that can be done to ensure Mr. Longoria never assaults another woman here or anywhere else.”