Outrage over West Texas man sentenced to 10 years probation in brutal sexual assault of 2-year-old

Thomas Boden, 29, pleaded guilty Aug. 25, 2015 to a first-degree felony charge of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. He was previously charged with aggravated sexual assault of a 2-year-old female child and indecency with a child by sexual contact, both punishable by up to life in prison. less Thomas Boden, 29, pleaded guilty Aug. 25, 2015 to a first-degree felony charge of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. He was previously charged with aggravated sexual assault of a 2-year-old female ... more Photo: Tom Green County Jail Photo: Tom Green County Jail Image 1 of / 39 Caption Close Outrage over West Texas man sentenced to 10 years probation in brutal sexual assault of 2-year-old 1 / 39 Back to Gallery

A 29-year-old San Angelo man could avoid a conviction in a brutal sexual assault of a two-year-old girl if he completes a 10-year probation sentence, sparking outrage at what some see is a light punishment.

Thomas Boden pleaded guilty Aug. 25 to a first-degree felony charge of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury, court records show. A separate first-degree felony charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child was dropped.

As part of a plea deal, Boden will serve 10 years deferred adjudication probation, pay a $2,500 fine and have no contact with the victim or victim's family. If he abides by the terms of his probation, Boden will steer clear of a conviction.

Boden will not be required to register as a sex offender, according to court documents obtained by the San Antonio Express-News.

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San Angelo police officers responded to a domestic disturbance at the victim's mother's residence on Jan. 1, according to a criminal complaint. Boden and the victim's mother were dating at the time.

It is San Antonio Express-News policy to not identify victims of sexual assault.

While the mother changed the victim's diaper, she "observed a large amount of blood in the diaper she was wearing" and found another diaper and several wipes containing blood.

The mother wrote in a Facebook post that her daughter told her, "Tom hurt me with his hand."

"I ran outside screaming and crying, pushed past several cops and asked Thomas if he touches my daughter," the mother wrote. "He didn't say a word, but had a slight grin on his face."

A Tom Green County grand jury indicted Boden on April 6 on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by sexual contact, both punishable by up to life in prison.

Those charges were later dropped and substituted with a charge of first-degree felony charge of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury, which Boden pleaded guilty to in August.

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Jason Ferguson, Assistant Tom Green County District Attorney, said in an email that there were only two witnesses — the victim, 2, and another toddler, 4.

That posed problems for the prosecution, Ferguson said, who felt that convincing a judge that the children would be able to testify was unlikely.

Judges in Texas must be convinced that a child is able to "intelligently observe" and remember events, "adequately tell the jury about the events" and "understand the moral obligation of telling the truth," Ferguson said.

"The possibility of one or both of these children being unable to testify was extremely high, if not a certainty," Ferguson said. "If that were to happen, we faced the very real possibility that the defendant would be found not guilty and simply go home with no consequences. That was something we could not risk."

Ferguson continued, "This plea allowed us to secure an admission of guilt from the defendant, keep him from contacting the victim or her family, remove any chance of him being found not guilty, and allowed us to keep an extremely young child from having to tell her story to a group of strangers, if allowed to testify at all, and be subject to cross examination from a skilled defense attorney."

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The victim's aunt told news station KIDY that the district attorney's office never asked for the family's input about the plea deal.

"We were not contacted about it. We weren't asked how we wanted this to be done," the aunt said. "If it was their daughter, it wouldn't have been done like this."

Ferguson told the news station that his office had difficulties communicating with the family.

"Our victim coordinators work hard every day to update every victim as their cases progress. In this case, they tried to update them as they normally would, including when they got word that there would be a plea," Ferguson told the news station. "Unfortunately, the family moved several weeks or maybe even months ago, and never updated their contact information with their office."

More than 200 people gathered at a protest last week at the Tom Green County Courthouse with signs saying "No excuse for rape or violence," "This will never be OK" and "Don't give pedophiles freedom," the San Angelo Standard Times reported.

In addition to his probation sentence, Boden has been placed under a community supervision program requiring him to meet in-person with a supervision officer on the fourth Thursday of each month for six months to one year. The 29-year-old will also be required to complete an anger management program by August 2016.

He must also spend 40 days in Tom Green County Jail starting August 2019 or complete 320 hours of community service.

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports