The Brazos County district court jury that convicted 26 year old Jacob Pape of Lubbock sentenced him to seven years in prison.
During the seven day trial, the jury heard from three women who said they were assaulted. Pape testified the contact was consensual.
Prosecutors say all three women were the victims of date rape.
The jury took more than five hours to deliver the verdict and two hours to determine the punishment. Prosecutors sought 15 years and Pape asked for probation. The punishment range included probation and prison time between two and 20 years.
Prosecutors say a second sexual assault indictment against Pape remains pending.
News release from the Brazos County district attorney’s office:
On Tuesday, February 15, 2022, the 85th District Court jury sentenced Jacob Pape to seven years in prison for the offense of Sexual Assault. The same jury convicted Pape of the offense on Friday night.
On July 8, 2017, Jane Doe #1 agreed to a date with the defendant in College Station, Texas. The defendant, a member of Brothers Under Christ Christian Fraternity, was on weekend leave from working a Christian camp. During the date, they returned to Doe #1’s apartment where the defendant sexually assaulted her. After assaulting her, the defendant told Doe #1 that they needed to pray about their sin of pre-marital sex and told Doe #1 that she was obliged to forgive him.
On September 1, 2017, Doe #2 agreed to a date with the defendant. During the date, the defendant gave her one glass of wine. After drinking the wine, the victim became unable to walk. The defend-ant took the victim to his home where he sexually assaulted her. After sexually assaulting her, the defendant called Doe #2’s roommates to come pick her up. When Doe #2’s roommates arrived, the survivor was in and out of consciousness. After getting her in the vehicle, Doe #2 told her roommates that she was sexually assaulted. Doe #2’s roommates took her to Scott and White where she received a sexual assault exam. Doe #2 initially did not report her sexual assault to the police because she wanted to believe it was a mistake and her kit was not processed by the crime lab. When she later reported, DNA taken from her kit matched that of the Defendant.
The Defendant’s roommates, and fellow members of Brothers Under Christ, be-came suspicious of the Defendant’s behavior and confronted him after hearing of Jane Doe #2’s allegations. The Defendant admitted to continuing to have sex with Jane Doe #2 while she was unconscious.
In the spring of 2018, Break-away Ministries did a sermon on sexual assault. At the end of the sermon, the minister encouraged victims of sexual violence to reach out and tell someone. After seeing the sermon, Jane Doe #1 reached out to a roommate of the Defendant’s to report her sexual assault.
During the punishment phase, the jury heard that on August 14, 2017, Jane Doe #3 agreed to come over to the Defendant’s home to hang out. Doe #3 had been talking with Defendant via text messages for months and agreed to a movie date at his house. After drinking one glass of wine provided by Defendant, Doe #3 began feeling super intoxicated. Defendant guided Doe #3 to his bedroom where he sexually assaulted her. Afterwards, the Defendant convinced Doe #3 that the sexual assault was due to her behavior and it “caused him to stumble.”
These women later reported their assaults to Texas A&M. The Defendant was expelled by Texas A&M University as a result of these assaults.
The Brazos County DA’s Office would like to thank Texas A&M University, Breakaway Ministries, the former roommates of the Defendant, and the brave survivors who testified about this defendant and the brave survivors who helped bring this defendant to justice.