Judge to St. George man convicted of raping teenage girl: ‘Your prison sentence starts now’

Composite image with background photo of Utah State Prison, overlay booking photo of Juan Grijalva-Chavez, 25, of St. George. who was sentenced to prison in 5th District Court, St. George, Utah, June 7, 2022 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff's Office, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A local man was sentenced to prison for raping a teenage girl last summer.

Booking photo of Juan Grijalva-Chavez, 25, of St. George. taken in Hurricane, Utah, July 9, 2021 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

On June 7, 25-year-old Juan Grijalva-Chavez of St. George appeared in 5th District Court for sentencing on first-degree felony rape. The defendant was originally charged with three first-degree felonies – two counts of forcible sodomy and one count of rape, but the sodomy charges were dismissed in exchange for a guilty plea.

District Judge Jeffery Wilcox sentenced the defendant to serve five years to life in Utah State Prison, the maximum sentence allowed under Utah law.

The case was filed by the Washington County Attorney’s Office on July 9, 2021, following an investigation by St. George Police detectives involving the possible sexual assault of a teenage girl. The incident came to light after the girl disclosed to her father that she had been raped by a family member of one of her friends.

During a forensic interview, the teen said she and a cousin were over at a friend’s house on Feb. 14. When the two girls were ready to leave, she said Chavez offered to take the two girls home. Then, after dropping the friend off, instead of taking the girl home, the suspect drove to a park near 900 South and stopped.

The girl was told to get in the backseat of the vehicle, where Chavez reportedly raped and sodomized the youth multiple times, and after, the suspect refused to allow the girl to get out of the car. The teen was later examined at the hospital, and the medical report submitted to detectives revealed evidence consistent with a sexual assault, in addition to biological material that was collected and sent to the state crime lab for analysis.

Chavez told officers during an interview that he did offer to take the girls home but denied ever taking the teen to the park, nor did they take “any detours” during the drive to her house. He said he dropped both off at their respective residences and never had any sexual contact with either of the teens.

During the sentencing hearing, which was held last week after being delayed several times, the teen’s father addressed the court by saying the level of pain Chavez caused to his daughter and their family has been excruciating, adding “that horrible, violent and unspeakable crime,” to his daughter can never be undone.

“He violently abused – in every way possible – an innocent, underaged girl,” he added.

The father closed by saying, “I ask with all my heart that he get the maximum sentence.”

Washington County Prosecutor Eric Gentry represented the state and opened by saying the victim impact statements admitted into court outlined in detail the repercussions left in the wake of “this terrible act” by the defendant, for both the victim and her family.

Juan Grijalva-Chavez, 25, of St. George. appears in 5th District Court in St. George on first-degree rape via Webex June 7, 2022 | Court pool photo, St. George News

Details revealed in the case “were really horrific” and indicated that this was a premeditated act on the part of Chavez, Gentry said.

First, the prosecutor said, the defendant used a ruse to isolate the girl by pretending the car was malfunctioning in order to drop off the two other passengers first, and then he parked in an isolated area away from her home – made possible when he made a “calculated wrong turn” and ended up in a park that also was isolated.

“He then did unspeakable things to the victim,” Gentry said. “And he used veiled threats to gain compliance and prevent her from disclosing the event.”

Chavez did this by showing the girl a tattoo of three birds on his body, the prosecutor said, which he said represented the people he had killed.

Gentry asked that Chavez be sentenced to the maximum prison term as allowed by law, and anything less, the prosecutor said, would likely allow the defendant to be deported, which Chavez himself told the evaluator, “would be OK with him because he’s looking forward to starting a new life in Mexico.”

Gentry also said statements made by Chavez during a psychosexual evaluation were “at best self-serving,” through which he rationalized and minimized his conduct and even blamed the underaged victim.

Nothing contained in the evaluation presented a convincing argument against incarceration, the prosecutor said, but did reveal the defendant’s inability to fully comprehend or acknowledge the very atrocious and egregious act he committed that night.

A psychosexual evaluation, requested prior to sentencing in many cases, is a systematic assessment of a defendant’s social and sexual history, deviant interests, and to assess the risk of sexual reoffending. It is also used to identify any treatment needs so a plan can be developed.

The evaluation in this case was one of the primary issues discussed from the onset and was first mentioned by Wilcox at the beginning of the hearing, since sentencing was delayed multiple times to allow the defendant to have the assessment completed, only to find that Chavez “lied in it,” the judge said.

Kenneth Combs, Chavez’s defense attorney, opened by saying his client pleaded guilty to the offense, “and so he is guilty,” he said.

Combs responded to the evaluator’s assessment that boded negatively for his client by saying the outcome was due to the fact that Chavez failed to take any responsibility for his actions by telling the evaluator it was the victim who initiated the contact. That claim, Combs said, also placed his client in a high-risk category based on Chavez’s “continual denial of what he’s done in accepting responsibility.”

Combs went over a previous statement in which his client stated he “felt horrible” for what he had done, and also said he “made a huge mistake,” and that he hoped that God and the victim would forgive him someday.

The attorney also mentioned that his client has “some legal status” in the country at the present time, due to the immigration changes that have taken place over the last year or so – in the event that the issue of deportation was mentioned as part of the sentence. Combs then asked that his client not be sentenced to prison.

“Additional jail time – yes, but prison – no,” he said.

During his address to the court, Chavez apologized for the way in which his actions have affected the victim and also apologized for the pain he has caused the family.

He went on to ask the court to give him the opportunity to get the help he needs and asked for another chance to change.

During redirect, Gentry said while he agreed with the defense that Chavez needs treatment, the defendant also needs serious consequences for his actions.

He also said that while he did not fault Combs for requesting a psychosexual evaluation for his client, as is a common practice, but in this case, it provided no value due to the defendant’s dishonesty and unwillingness to take responsibility for his crimes.

2020 file photo of District Judge Jeffery C. Wilcox during the hearing held in 5th District Court via video in St. George, Utah, Aug. 18, 2020 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

That whole process, Gentry said, caused countless delays for the family of the victim, who continued to show up for one hearing after another by video feed – only to have those hearings postponed for the evaluation.

“It’s hard to justify the delay to someone who’s been waiting for justice on this case for so long,” Gentry said.

Wilcox opened by going over the defendant’s statements in the psychosexual report, a report the judge told Chavez, “You lied in.”

In the report, the judge said, the defendant claimed he never forced the girl, that it was all consensual, and it wasn’t until she told her parents that the charges were filed.

“That’s not what happened,” Wilcox said. “What you told the evaluator was wrong.”

What happened, the judge said, was the girl sustained physical injuries during the attack, including bruising and other injuries that were found during a medical examination conducted after the assault.

The judge said Chavez’s claims to the evaluator were in direct conflict with what really happened, including a statement that he told officers the incident was consensual and that police “let him go.”

What the defendant actually told police during the interview, Wilcox said, was that “nothing happened,” which is why they let him go after getting a DNA sample from him.

It wasn’t until the results came back showing it was Chavez’s DNA that officers brought the defendant back in to confront him.

“And even then you denied it and you were arrested,” the judge said.

Following this, the evaluator began an assessment that was based on lies from the start, Wilcox said, and instead of looking at any of the evidence in the case, the evaluator took the defendant’s word for it, which then called into question everything contained in the report – because it was full of untruths.

“You’re not honest,” Wilcox said to Chavez, adding there was overwhelming evidence that Chavez committed a violent assault – one that warranted the maximum sentence for his crimes.

“And that’s what I’m going to do.”

2007 file photo of Utah State Prison, Draper, Utah, June 2007 | Public domain photo, St. George News

In addition to the five years to life in prison, Wilcox told Chavez he would not be granted any credit for time served.

“Your prison sentence starts now,” he said.

He also said he would include a recommendation to the Board of Pardons that Chavez serves at least 10 years of his prison term before he is considered for parole, adding that despite the defendant’s lack of a serious criminal record “what you did to this girl was horrific.”

In addition, Wilcox said he would recommend Chavez be deported as soon as he is released, and told the defendant he should never be allowed to return to the area.

“And if you do, and I find out that you’re in this area – you’ll go to prison again,” he said.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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