George Guo received an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.

From The Dallas Morning News, Sept 23, 2019

A Dallas County jury took just over an hour Monday afternoon to find a former doctor guilty of capital murder for a vicious 1988 rape that left a Highland Park woman with serious — and eventually fatal — brain injuries.

Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, so George Guo, 58, was automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

After Judge Ernest White announced the verdict, Katherine Bascone’s friends and family became emotional, many of them crying and hugging each other and, later, the prosecutors. Bascone died in early 2018, 30 years after Guo violently attacked her.

Guo did not appear to have any reaction to the verdict.

Last week, prosecutors presented evidence that Guo choked Bascone with a hair dryer cord during the assault, depriving her brain of oxygen.

Her family and caretakers testified about how Bascone suffered in the years that followed, unable to see, speak, stand or feed herself. And a medical examiner explained how he determined that her death was a homicide caused by the injuries she suffered in the attack.

On Monday morning, jurors heard some of the first arguments from Guo’s defense, which did not call any witnesses during the trial.

In closing arguments, the defense said the state had not met its burden of proof to show Guo was guilty.

“We’re not disputing that what happened to Katherine Bascone was a horrible tragedy, but the state hasn’t proven this man is responsible for it,” defense attorney Lynn Cox argued. “As much as you might feel sorry for for that family and want to give them closure, that’s not your job.”

Defense attorneys went on to say that prosecutors had cherry-picked what evidence to show jurors and said the state had nothing to directly tie Guo to Bascone’s assault.

Prosecutors, who had called 27 witnesses, closed their case with a refresher on the evidence they had presented. At one point, lead prosecutor Leighton D’Antoni displayed a photo of Bascone’s body, showing how muscle contractions she suffered had awkwardly frozen some of her limbs and muscles in place.

“That is what the defendant did to Katherine Bascone,” D’Antoni said, pointing to her contorted limbs. “And that is how she lived: in pain and contracted.”

Other photos showed gaping bedsores on Bascone’s body, some down to the bone, that arose from inability to move her limbs. Her father lowered his head and closed his eyes during the display, gently shaking his head back and forth.

After the assault on June 19, 1988, Bascone lost her vision, ability to stand and ability to speak. Her condition continued to deteriorate throughout her life, medical experts testified, and she was often paranoid and fearful. She died in February 2018 while in hospice care in Oklahoma.

Katherine Bascone (right) (Dallas Morning News)

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