HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Kansas Court of Appeals Friday upheld the conviction and sentence for a 26-year-old Hutchinson man, convicted in a child sex case and given a life sentence under Jessica’s Law.
Salvador Araujo-Gutierrez was found guilty of one count of rape and one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. However, the indecent liberties count was an alternate count to the rape, meaning he could only be sentenced on one. Jessica’s law convictions call for a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
The jury couldn’t find Araujo-Gutierrez guilty on four other charges against him with three encounters occurring between 2006 and 2011, but they did find him guilty for the incident in the basement of a Hutchinson home. That’s where they found his DNA from a stain on new carpeting. The child had pointed out where that stain might be which wasn’t able to be detected by the naked eye. However, the KBI tested the fibers of the carpet and discovered the DNA which matched the defendant.
He was sentenced by Judge Tim Chambers back in August of 2013, and the judge called the evidence in the case “overwhelming.”