Sexual assault trial begins today

Jimmy Mathis
Jimmy Mathis

NEW BOSTON, Texas-Opening statements and testimony are expected to begin this morning at Bowie County Courthouse for a Texarkana man accused of molesting a 10-year-old girl.

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A jury of six men and six women will decide if Jimmy Lee Mathis, 64, is guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Jury selection was held Tuesday before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell.

Mathis allegedly lived near an apartment in 2014 and 2015 in the 800 block of Main Street in Texarkana, Texas, where the girl lived with her family, according to a probable cause affidavit used to create the following account. The girl made an outcry of abuse to her mother in April 2017 to Texarkana, Texas, police.

The girl met with a forensic interviewer April 27, 2017, at the Children's Advocacy Center in Texarkana. The girl allegedly described being sexually assaulted by Mathis more than 10 times.

"She advised that Mathis would give her a toy or money afterward and told her that he would kill her family if she told anyone," the affidavit states.

Mathis is facing five to 99 years or life in prison if convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He is represented by Texarkana lawyer Jeff Harrelson. First Assistant District Attorney Mike Shepherd and Assistant District Attorney Katie Carter are managing the case for the state.

Mathis is currently being held in the Bowie County jail with bail set at $150,000. The trial is expected to last one or two days.

 

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