Did a 10 year old rape victim from Ohio get denied an abortion? Part 4
Gerson Fuentes pleads not guilty, but additional information indicates the burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt may be a relatively easy one to meet
On Monday, July 25th 2022, Gerson Fuentes, the man arrested for the rape of a 10 year old Ohio girl, appeared before a judge and pled not guilty on both counts of rape he is being charged with.
After some unnecessary back and forth with the clerk’s office, I finally obtained the video of the arraignment. It’s short and to the point. Fuentes entered his not guilty plea for both counts, and bail was temporarily denied without scheduling a bail hearing.
Nothing particularly additional is learned but I’m including the video for completeness.
Motion to hold without bail
In the State’s Motion to Hold the Defendant Without Bail or Bond we learn that “preliminary” DNA testing pegs Fuentes as the (very likely) father.
The motion also describes Fuentes’ immigration situation as “not a U.S. citizen,” which does not exclusively include people in the United States illegally. In the original arraignment, it was declared that they were unable to find any official documentation on Fuentes, going so far as to say they do not know if Gerson Fuentes is his real name or an assumed name. I have not seen any indication documentation has been finally found, which reduces the likelihood “not a U.S. citizen” means Fuentes is here on a visa, but does not conclusively rule it out. Even with a visa or green card, though, deportation would be a risk.
Bail denied
The bail hearing was held on Thursday, July 28th 2022. Detective Jeffrey Huhn again took the stand1 and we learn a some new things and clarify some old things.
Here is the timeline as we may understand it now.
Rape occurs on May 12th
Unknown if this is inferred from gestational age or determined from some other piece of information.
Normal menses cycle starts May 13th
Victim’s birthday (turned 10) May 28th
Mother reported pregnancy FCCS June 22nd
FCCS reports the rape to the police
Seen at CAC June 23rd
Victim did not disclose rape
Mother wanted to terminate pregnancy
Unknown if Fuentes was with them
Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade June 24th
Local consultation to determine gestational age of pregnancy ~ after June 23th and before June 29th
Gestational age per Detective Huhn 6 weeks and four days placing consult June 27/28th
Victim is taken to Indiana for consultation June 29th
Medical procedure chosen (pill)
Pregnancy is terminated June 30th
Dr. Bernard talks about the situation in the IndyStar July 1st
Products of conception2 retrieved July 2nd
Sent to crime lab
Detectives visit the family, and collect DNA samples from the brothers and the victim July 6th
Victim identifies Fuentes non-verbally
Search warrant written July 11th
Search warrant for Fuentes’ DNA served July 12th
Fuentes provides DNA, waives rights, and admits to vaginal intercourse at least two times July 12th
We learn that when Fuentes confessed, he did so via an interpreter who was on the phone - not physically in the room. I do not know enough to estimate how problematic a court may find that, but I would imagine that particular fact will be used by the defense to try to have the confession not admissible as evidence. Given the DNA evidence the confession may be moot - but of course they’ll have to attempt to get the DNA tossed out too. I can’t imagine what that attempt will look like at the moment.
Detective Huhn also testified that to his knowledge Fuentes is not in the country legally. Maybe, because there aren’t charges involving his immigration status to deal with, Mr Fuentes’ legal status isn’t important enough for the defense to resolve themselves, but on some level the lack of anyone on the defense saying “he’s here legally it’s just some difficulty obtaining copies of the paperwork" suggests he’s not.
The defense did question Detective Huhn about this belief, and asked him if his failure to find Mr Fuentes in a few of his database searches is why he says he cannot find any proof Mr Fuentes is not here legally. Huhn said yes. The defense was positioning the idea that the only reason one would be in the databases Detective Huhn was searching would be if they had a criminal record, and that the reason Mr Fuentes was not found was because he has no criminal history. This was in attempt to argue no criminal history reduces his threat to the community.
During questioning by the defense, Detecive Huhn was asked if it is correct (as he had indicated during the prosecution’s questions) that the detectives who went to visit the family on July 6th only got a non-verbal indication from the victim as to Fuentes being the man who raped her. Detective Huhn said that was correct. The defense during trial will probably question the interpretation of the non-verbal communication.
The ruling
The judge gave an emotionally potent explanation for her decision to hold Fuentes without bail. Many should find it cathartic3.
Dr Caitlin Bernard interviewed
CBS Evening news released a short interview with Indiana Doctor Caitlin Bernard, who administered the abortion. The released interview is only a few minutes long, I do not know if there exists an extended version anywhere.
The interview does not offer anything of real substance to the whole story. Dr Bernard is given mostly t-ball questions and the interview is mostly a puff piece. Anything that approaches details, including that she was the doctor involved at all, are claimed to be confidential.
One interesting question asked of Dr. Bernard is whether she ever “failed to report any abortions?” Failing to report abortions was never really the question. The question, which is still not answered satisfactorily, was whether she followed all legally required reporting procedures for child sexual abuse. If all that is required is she fill out the abortion form and submit it within three days, then yes she followed all legally required reporting procedures.
But Dr Bernard’s legal counsel’s public statements, nor anyone else that I have come across, have actually said that the only thing required is to fill out the abortion form and submit it within three days to satisfy one’s role as a mandated reporter. They have stated that she filled out the abortion form and submitted it within three days as is required for that form. But this is not the same as whether that is the only thing she was required to do as a mandated reporter.
Additionally, nobody has asked and nobody has explained why Dr Bernard listed Mr Fuentes’ age as 17 on the form, when he is 27.
Fuentes is being evicted
On Wednesday, July 27th 2022, Sawmill Crossing an apartment leasing company, filed a “Forcible Entry and Detainer” petition to begin an eviction.
Sawmill Crossing owns the rental property where the mother of the victim resides and Fuentes has stayed. Whether he is on the lease or there are other rights he is legally entitled to by having stayed there for a long enough time that need to be severed I do not know. I also do not know if the mother and her children are also being evicted, but I do not see a separate pending petition under the mother’s name.
Bail hearing recording. The video freezes with just under two minutes left. This was in the original file I obtained. The only modifications I made to the video were to reduce background noise and normalize the volume.
Material from the aborted fetus.