Appeals court upholds four life sentences for Lusk

District Attorney’s Office press release

Last month, the Twelfth Court of Appeals in Tyler affirmed Danny Ray Lusk’s convictions of four counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child and one count of Indecency with a Child by Contact. Lusk will serve four life sentences and a 20 year sentence.

Lusk, 39, formerly of Athens, was indicted by a Henderson County Grand Jury in September 2011 after an investigation into the aggravated sexual assault and indecency with two children.

Lusk was prosecuted by Scott McKee’s Henderson County District Attorney’s Office in May of 2013. The case was tried by 1st Assistant DA, Mark Hall and Assistant DA, Nancy Rumar. A Henderson County jury found Lusk guilty of all five charges and also assessed the punishments, all of which were the maximum sentences allowable under Texas law for the offenses.

The trial lasted over a week and a half and included graphic testimony that Lusk began sexually assaulting his victims at the ages of 3 and 4. Both victims testified that Lusk assaulted them for years before they finally came forward to other family members. Monte Mansfield of the Gun Barrel City Police Department investigated the case, along with assistance from the Tool Police Department. Judge Mark Calhoon of the 3rd District Court presided over the trial.

The response to Lusk’s appeal was litigated by Rumar and McKee.

In his appeal, Lusk argued, among other issues, that testimony concerning the outcry of the victims was inadmissible and should not have been presented to the jury. Texas law allows for the admissibility of testimony of the first adult whom a child discloses sexual abuse. This is largely due to the fact that it is often traumatic for children to testify in a courtroom setting, especially about sexual offenses committed against them.

Chief Justice James Worthen, the presiding justice of the 12th Court of Appeals, authored the opinion affirming the convictions and sentences.

According to McKee, most convictions resulting from a jury trial are appealed. “This is when a lot of the hard legal work begins,” he said. “Typically the prosecutor that handled the case at trial will also litigate the appeal.”
McKee also credited the hard work of Investigator Mansfield as well as the Tool Police department in investigating the case. “These are very difficult cases to investigate and prosecute. They can also take a toll on you emotionally in hearing what this defendant put the victims through. He may have received four life sentences, but the unfortunately the victims have their own life sentences to deal with.”