2 Men Sentenced For Sexual Assault: Travis County DA

TRAVIS COUNTY, TX — Two men were sentenced this week in separate sexual assault cases, prosecutors said.

In a press advisory, the Travis County District Attorney's Office said Jorge Ramon-Amaya on Tuesday, Oct. 1, entered a guilty plea to sexual assault, drawing a 15-year prison sentence as a result.

The sentencing was the culmination of a case that arose out of an attack that occurred in the early morning hours of Feb. 3, 2018, in the Rainey Street bar district, the DA's office said. The victim had gone to Rainey Street with a friend where they had drinks at two different bars and then took a cab to 6th Street where they met several other friends, officials said.

Later that evening, the victim found herself back on Rainey Street but with no recollection of how she got there, the DA's office said. While there, she was in the company of a man who was later identified as Ramon-Amaya. Prosecutors said the man lured the victim into an alley where he attacked and sexually assaulted her. After a thorough investigation by APD Sex Crimes, the defendant was identified through cell phone records and was later arrested. The defendant’s DNA matched samples collected from the victim, the district attorney's office said.

Also this week, a Travis County jury convicted Derek Grinstead, 33, of aggravated sexual assault. The crime occurred in the morning hours of Oct. 22, 2018, while the victim was opening a tanning salon in the Southpark Meadows shopping center, officials said. After unlocking the doors to the business the man described as a transient, entered the salon before producing a serrated knife from his pocket, the DA's office said.

Grinstead ordered the victim to enter a room before sexually assaulting her, according to prosecutors. The woman called 9-1-1 as soon as the attacker left the business. Austin Police Department officers who were nearby located Grinstead in the vicinity, and found a knife matching the victim's description in his pocket.

The victim promptly identified Grinstead as the attacker and surveillance footage of him entering the business and leaving confirmed her version of the events, officials said. Moreover, the DA added, DNA testing on evidence collected during the investigation matched Grinstead’s DNA profile.

“This is an offense that is not only criminal, but one that takes away part of someone’s humanity,” Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Richards said during closing arguments. Co-counsel Geoffrey Puryear added: “We admire the courage and strength it took for the victim to relive the trauma and face her attacker and we thank the jury for their attentiveness to the evidence and their just verdict.”

Judge Julie Kocurek is scheduled to sentence Grinstead on Nov. 8.