Editor’s Note: If you know or suspect that anyone under 18 is being sexually or physically abused, call the Texas child abuse hotline at 1-800-252-5400. To learn more about how to identify signs of child abuse or neglect, click here.
The state has rested its case in the trial of former Wichita Falls automobile dealer Anthony Patterson in Fort Worth.
Defense attorneys began presenting their witnesses on Tuesday at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center.
Patterson faces 13 counts of child sexual abuse and trafficking in a trial that was moved to Fort Worth from Wichita Falls on a change of venue. Anyone charged with a crime is considered innocent unless convicted in a court of law.
The felony charges involve three alleged victims, including one who claimed incidents happened in 2004 and 2005 and two girls ages 8 and 10 from incidents alleged to have happened in 2017.
Patterson, 48, faces up to life in prison if he is convicted of any of the first degree charges against him. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges before a jury of eight men and four women.