After four hours of deliberation, a 12-person jury found 32-year-old Jose Izaguirre guilty of two Level 1 felony child molesting charges. Izaguirre was found not guilty of one of the three molesting charges he was facing.
The three-day trial came to an end in Kosciusko Circuit Court after jurors heard testimony from several witnesses, including the victim in the case and Izaguirre himself.
The case stems from March 29, 2019, when the 12-year-old victim told a friend at school that Izaguirre had been forcing her to have sexual intercourse and touching her inappropriately since 2016.
Izaguirre’s defense was that he did not understand the English language well enough when he was read his Miranda rights by Warsaw Police Department Det. Paul Heaton, therefore Izaguirre falsely confessed to what he was accused of, Izaguirre’s defense attorney, Jay Rigdon, told jurors.
Rigdon has further contended that the victim in the case only told a friend of the accusations after the child learned Izaguirre and her mother were considering getting a divorce. Rigdon accused the child of knowing that would “get Jose out of the house.”
On Wednesday, jurors were played a videotaped recording of the interrogation at Warsaw Police Department from that day when Izaguirre was brought in for questioning by Heaton. Heaton read Izaguirre his Miranda rights in English and continued questioning him in English. In the video, Izaguirre initially denies any wrongdoing and seems confused about the accusations.
Rigdon accused Heaton of purposely not providing Miranda rights to his client in Spanish because Izaguirre may have actually exercised his rights.
Kosciusko County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Sobek told the jury, “Folks, he speaks English, it’s just that simple.”
Another point of the defense is that Heaton allowed the victim’s mother into the interrogation room at WPD alone with Izaguirre and then brought her back in to translate to Spanish with Heaton.
On Thursday, Izaguirre took the stand himself, with a Spanish translator by his side, and told the jury he was born and lived in Mexico for 16 years. He moved to Indiana when he was 22 years old.
Izaguirre then told a story about his first and apparently only experience with law enforcement besides this case. He said back in Mexico he was attacked by police officials and they held his head in water for so long as they demanded to know who he worked for. Izaguirre said he thought he was going to die.
Rigdon used that story to paint a picture of how his client might be afraid of an officer like Heaton, who he claims is bigger in size, continually told Izaguirre in English that he doesn’t like to be lied to and that it upsets him when he is. Rigdon said, at one point, when Izaguirre asked Heaton if he wants to fight, Heaton replied, “I don’t want to fight. It wouldn’t be a fight.”
Sobek hit back at that claim by telling jurors to roll the tape and recall that if Izaguirre was “so afraid of being ruffled by the police,” why did he take a nap while waiting in the interrogation room?
In the video, when the woman comes in and translates, Izaguirre admits to the alleged sexual abuse.
Rigdon told jurors his client only did that because he was in a situation where he was afraid of Heaton and confused about what was going on. It was a false confession, Rigdon said.
Sobek argued that if Izaguirre’s willpower was so broken by his fear of Heaton – who apparently brought Izaguirre water, let him use the restroom privately and carried on with conversational banter in English about things such as where Izaguirre’s children went to school and working out at the YMCA – then how was Izaguirre able to consistently deny some accusations but then agree he did others?
In the tape, Izaguirre told Heaton and the woman that the child came onto him, and that he “never did anything against her will.” Heaton responded that it doesn’t matter, because it’s illegal regardless.
On Thursday, Izaguirre said that was all a lie and he now “feels bad” he said those things about the child.
Rigdon told jurors things don’t add up and they can use their common sense. Rigdon pointed to the fact that the child told a nurse one thing happened, but when she testified in court Wednesday she said it didn’t happen.
Rigdon called it a fabricated story and said “it’s easy to remember something that’s truthful.” Izaguirre also testified that he believes the child was mad at him when she accused him of molesting her because a few weeks prior he didn’t let her go out with her friends for the weekend because her closet was messy.
“There’s a theme here,” Sobek said. “The defendant wants to frame these things as a conspiracy, a scheme. … Don’t forget about (the victim).”
Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Mike Reed will sentence Izaguirre at 10:30 a.m. May 20. Izaguirre was remanded to the custody of the sheriff with no bond while he awaits sentencing. He has been lodged at the county jail since his arrest in 2019.
