Little Rock, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – February 5, 2025 – The Arkansas Court of Appeals Wednesday ordered a new trial in a 2019 Greene County rape case.
The appellate court ruled that Circuit Judge Randy Philhours erred during Santiago Vasquez, Jr.’s third trial when he allowed testimony regarding orders of protection involving his girlfriend. Appellate Judge Kenneth S. Hixson wrote, “There is a reasonable probability that the erroneously admitted evidence about the orders of protection taken out against Vasquez by (his girlfriend) Angel Spurlock—in an attempt to show that Vasquez is a violent, bad person—affected the jury’s credibility findings. Therefore, the error was not harmless, and we reverse and remand for a new trial.”
The 2024 trial was Vasquez’s third trial on charges dating back to 2019. Paragould Police said at the time that the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline received a report in late 2018 about Vasquez touching a child inappropriately. Vasquez was subsequently charged with five counts of rape involving a child. Vasquez was convicted of all five counts in June 2021 and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Vasquez’s attorneys, Mark Rees and Zach Morrison, appealed the sentence saying Circuit Judge Pamela Honeycutt had abused her discretion by allowing a certified sexual assault nurse examiner to testify as if she were an expert, “abused its discretion in allowing the sexual assault nurse examiner, designated a lay witness by the State, to present expert testimony.” The appeals court agreed, stating in its decision that the nurse’s “erroneously admitted expert opinions… impacted and effected the jury’s credibility finding.”
Vasquez was represented by attorneys Marty Lilly and Morrison in the second trial held in September 2023. That case ended in a mistrial. Honeycutt was also the judge in Vasquez’s second trial and, in the mistrial order, wrote “the trial concluded with the jury declaring itself hopelessly deadlocked and unable to arrive at a unanimous decision. The court, therefore, upon oral motion by the Defendant, declared a mistrial in this cause of action.”
In the most recent trial held in February 2024 Vasquez was represented by attorneys Jerry Coleman and Jimmy Hood. Attorney Erin W. Lewis represented Vasquez on the latest appeal.