BEAUMONT, Texas — A Nederland man has been sentenced to five years in prison and 10 years on probation after a Jefferson County jury found him guilty of sexual assault of a child.
John Michael Grant, 45, of Nederland, was found guilty Thursday evening in Jefferson County's Criminal District Court of two counts of sexual assault of a child, which is a second degree felony.
He was originally indicted on four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, a first degree felony that carries a penalty of from five years to life in prison. Each of those charges also included a lesser included charge of sexual assault of a child, a second degree felony that carries a penalty of from two to 20 years in prison.
Jurors acquitted him on all four charges of aggravated sexual assault and two of the lesser included charges of sexual assault of a child.
They did convict him on two of the lesser included charges of sexual assault of a child.
Defense attorney, Jason Nicks said, during the punishment phase, that the 45-year-old Grant had no prior convictions and had already been in jail for two and a half years and said he felt the sentences should not run consecutively.
Jurors recommended a five year prison sentence on each count and also requested that the second sentence be probated.
Judge John Stevens then sentenced Grant to five years in prison on each count to run consecutively and set the sentence to be probated over 10 years.
This means Grant is facing a total of five years in behind bars followed by 10 years on probation. If he should violate the terms of his probation at any time he will face up to five years in prison.
Because he has already been in jail for two and a half years he could be already be eligible for parole, according to Nicks.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this story included some inaccuracies which have been corrected.)
If you have information about a crime you could earn a cash reward of up to $1000 by providing an ANONYMOUS tip to Crime Stoppers of Southeast Texas.
Call 833-TIPS (8477) or download the P3Tips App on your mobile device to submit your tip anonymously.
