A Travis County jury has sentenced a man to three years in prison after he threatened her with a knife and raped her in her own apartment in Pflugerville, before she escaped by jumping off a second-story balcony.
Sexual assault in the Texas Penal Code is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison.
Police arrested Asley Quesada-Diaz just over a year ago on January 6, 2019, after getting a 911 call from a woman at a gas station. She had cuts on her legs, back and feet from having jumped off a balcony into a rosebush, after which she ran to a passing vehicle for help, according to an arrest affidavit written by an Austin Police detective.
Quesada-Diaz was a family friend of the victim and the victim’s family had been helping him after a recent move to the Austin area. Quesada-Diaz had entered the United States from Cuba only months before. He was “working on getting his U.S. citizenship.”
On the night of the assault, the victim allowed Quesada-Diaz to sleep on a couch in her apartment, while she went to her room to sleep.
He entered her bedroom, coerced her into a bathroom where he had placed a knife, then “looked at her and looked down at the knife several times.” He then dragged her down a hallway to a bedroom and forced himself on her.
Later the victim went out onto the balcony after telling the perpetrator that she wanted to smoke a cigarette, according to the arrest affidavit. When she saw him walking toward her through the glass, she jumped off in fear that he would assault her again.
The trial earlier this month lasted four days. In a statement, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office said that DNA evidence had linked Quesada-Diaz to swabs taken from the victim shortly after the sexual assault.
The DA’s Office said the jury deliberated for four hours before returning a guilty verdict in the case.
Travis County Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Richards, assigned to the SVU Sex Crimes Unit, commented after the verdict, “Unfortunately, this case represents the harsh reality that many sexual assaults are perpetrated by people known to the victim. I am grateful that our community is reaching a place where it has a better understanding of the dynamics involved in sexual assault cases and the realities that many sexual assault victims face. I am thankful to the jurors for their careful deliberation and attention to this case.”
