Trial got underway Tuesday for a former Progreso police officer accused of sexually assaulting two people who were in his custody.
Matthew Lee Sepulveda, 26, faces two counts of depriving the civil rights of persons in his custody while acting under the color of law. The charges stem from two separate sexual assaults authorities say he committed in the summer of 2019. Sepulveda has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
(Read: Progreso ex-cop heads to trial in sex assault cases)
The court moved immediately to hear opening arguments and witness testimony Tuesday after selecting a jury in about an hour.
Federal prosecutors began by telling jurors they would hear from the victims, who — although they don’t know each other — tell remarkably similar stories. The jury would also hear of a police officer who abused his position in order to carry out his crimes.
Meanwhile, defense attorney Mauro Reyna sought to discredit the government’s evidence against Sepulveda — primarily by raising questions about the integrity of DNA evidence, as well as the lack of any audiovisual evidence to corroborate the victims’ accounts.
“There’s no video. There’s no audio. There’s no evidence of that type. … The only other evidence in this case is the underwear that is provided by the victim in this case,” Reyna said in his opening remarks.
“Don’t make up your minds on this case until you have heard all the witnesses, all the evidence is presented,” Reyna said.
Prosecutors called eight witnesses to the stand Tuesday, including the first alleged victim — identified only by the initials CL — as well as several law enforcement investigators, two forensic scientists, a police dispatcher, and one of Sepulveda’s former police academy classmates.
(Read: Former Progreso cop headed to trial in March)
Throughout the testimony, prosecutors honed in on two focal points: the unusualness of Sepulveda’s actions as a police officer, and the integrity of the physical evidence.
The testimony began with CL, now a 21-year-old man.
CL said Sepulveda took him into custody after pulling him over late one night for a minor traffic violation, and after learning that CL had neither a driver’s license nor proof of insurance.
Just before being taken into custody, CL was able to call a friend and yell into his phone that he was being arrested, he said.
Once at the police station, Sepulveda began to question CL extensively, asking him about his relationship with his then-girlfriend, including if they were sexually active. He also asked if CL masturbated or watched pornography.
Though CL said he found the questioning unusual, he continued to answer due to his fear of being sent to the county jail and subsequently deported — a fear instilled in him by Sepulveda once he learned of CL’s undocumented status, CL said.
At one point, CL said he heard a knock at the lobby door of the police station and feared it was sheriff’s deputies coming to take him away.
“In my head, I thought it was the sheriff already coming for me, but I hear a girl’s voice and it was my mom’s voice,” CL testified.
CL said he could hear his mother ask where he was, and that Sepulveda said CL would be released shortly.
Instead, Sepulveda returned to the office where CL was, and told the man that he needed to “do something” and that letting him go was “not that simple.”
Sepulveda directed CL to pull down his shorts, at which point Sepulveda performed oral sex on him, CL testified.
Not long after, Sepulveda released CL into the custody of his parents.
When he got home, CL text messaged his girlfriend, who ultimately urged him to report the assault to authorities, which he did.
Just hours later, a sheriff’s deputy arrived at CL’s house and took possession of CL’s boxer shorts, which he had since removed and placed in a bag, CL said.
Samples of the underwear ultimately made their way first to a DPS crime lab in Weslaco, and then to a lab in Laredo for DNA analysis.
DNA analyst Erica Avila testified that she had conducted the DNA analysis on the underwear samples, as well as blood and saliva samples taken from Sepulveda.
She found that both CL’s and Sepulveda’s DNA were on the garment, as was the DNA of a third unknown person.
According to Avila, CL’s DNA accounted for 91% of the DNA present in the underwear sample, while Sepulveda’s accounted for 6%. The unknown third person’s DNA accounted for 3%.
Avila also testified that it was 434 million times more likely for the DNA sample to contain the DNA of CL, Sepulveda and an unknown third person than it was to contain the DNA of CL and two unknown persons.
“Based on the likelihood ratio result, Matthew Sepulveda cannot be excluded as a possible contributor to the (DNA) profile,” Avila testified.
On cross examination, however, Reyna admitted that no DPS lab in Texas has the capability to tell whether a DNA sample came from saliva or some other source because DPS does not have the capability to test for saliva.
And an earlier witness from the Weslaco Crime Lab testified that she had not run any tests for the presence of saliva for the same reason. She merely swabbed both the front and the rear portions of the underwear to test for the presence of DNA.
It was the “front panel” of the underwear which tested positive for DNA, and it was that portion from which samples were sent to Avila’s DNA analysis.
Reyna asked Avila if the DNA sample could have been left by someone merely touching the garment.
“It depends. Depends how long the object was handled, how rough it was handled. So there really is no way of knowing,” Avila said.
Reyna later followed that line of questioning with another of the government’s key witnesses — Jacob Rivera — when he asked the man about police “pat down” procedures.
Rivera and Sepulveda attended the police academy together in 2017, he testified. It was Sepulveda who ultimately helped get Rivera a position as an unpaid reserve officer at Progreso.
And it was Rivera who was on duty the night that the second victim — then a 17-year-old teen referred to in court as AA — was allegedly sexually assaulted by Sepulveda.
Just days after the incident with CL, AA and his brother were among a group of seven teenagers who were in a car Rivera pulled over for a broken taillight.
As Rivera was speaking with the driver, Sepulveda arrived on scene with another academy classmate whom he’d also helped become a reserve officer. It was that officer’s first night and Sepulveda was showing him the ropes, Rivera testified.
But, as the teens began to call their parents to come pick them up, AA’s parents weren’t answering, Rivera said. When Rivera suggested letting AA and his brother be released into the custody of their friend’s parents, as had already been done with some of the teens, Sepulveda said no and took the two brothers into custody.
He then told Rivera to take the third officer on patrol with him while Sepulveda transported the teens to the jail alone. Rivera tried to object to the teens’ arrest, citing state law on the confinement of minors, but Sepulveda persisted and took the teens.
Rivera testified to the unusualness of Sepulveda’s assistance during the traffic stop, saying he performed a field sobriety test on the driver, whom Rivera said did not appear intoxicated.
Prosecutors also noted that Rivera had only been on the force for three days when Sepulveda had left the new officer in his care for patrol training.
Later that night, when Rivera informed Sepulveda that he and the third officer were returning to the police station, Sepulveda told Rivera he had been alerted that a high-speed chase was headed toward town from Weslaco.
Rivera and the officer waited along the sole road into town for nearly 45 minutes, but returned to the station after nothing happened.
Once there, he asked Sepulveda about the teens. Sepulveda told him the Progreso city manager had called, instructing Sepulveda to take the teens home.
Under cross examination, Sepulveda’s attorney began by asking Rivera about how officers conduct pat downs. Rivera explained the process, adding that officers “do not grab the butt or private parts of an individual.”
Rivera added that some officers wear gloves to protect themselves while conducting a pat down, but added that he could not recall if Sepulveda had worn gloves that night.
“Do you ever stick your hand inside somebody’s underwear?” prosecutors asked during redirect questioning.
“No, sir,” Rivera said.
The last witness of the day was a Weslaco dispatcher who testified that there were no calls for vehicle pursuits that night.
The trial will continue at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. Prosecutors are expected to call two more witnesses, including the alleged second victim, AA.
The defense plans on calling one witness — a DNA expert who will refute the government’s interpretation of the evidence.
Sepulveda will not take the stand on his own behalf.
