Prosecutors says 21 year old Justin Batten Jr. of Snook received the maximum 20 year prison sentence for the sexual assault. Punishment for the aggravated kidnapping will be served at the same time.
The attack took place behind the Subway off Boonville Road in the Austin’s Colony shopping center.
Batten, who pleaded guilty to both crimes, had been out of jail on bond since shortly after his arrest in June 2019.
Batten is also required by the plea agreement to register as a sex offender. And he is banned from ever contacting the victim.
News release from the Brazos County district attorney’s office:
Justin Batten, 21, of Snook pled guilty and was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for sexual assault. Batten was also sentenced to 18 years in prison for the offense of Aggravated Kidnapping.
In the early morning hours of June 3, 2019, Bryan Police responded to the Kroger Shopping Center located at the intersection of Highway 6 and Boonville Road in response to a reported sexual assault. The victim, an 18 year-old employee of Subway sandwich shop, was closing the store for the night. As she was closing and getting ready to ride her bike home, the victim accidentally locked herself out-side of the back door. The victim called her boss and asked her boss to let her in to retrieve the key to her bike lock. While the victim awaited her boss, she sat on the curb in the alleyway behind the shopping center and called a friend.
Shortly thereafter, the victim reported that a white man with long blond hair came out from behind the dumpster shared by the stores in the shopping center. Believing that the man was an employee of one of the stores, she did not take notice of him. The victim reported that the next thing she knew, the white male came up behind her, placed her in a chokehold, told her not to scream, and forced her behind the dumpster. The defendant then sexually assaulted the victim and fled the scene. The victim’s boss arrived shortly thereafter.
Bryan Police obtained surveillance footage from the surrounding businesses. The manager of one of the businesses was able to identify the white male as Justin Batten, a recently hired employee. The surveillance footage from this business showed the defendant clocking out of work approximately thirty minutes prior to the attack. The defendant then drove his vehicle to Premiere Movie Theatre, where he hid his vehicle and snuck back to the area behind the Subway. The defendant then laid in wait behind the dumpster in the alleyway. The rest of the surveillance video confirmed the victim’s account of the defendant grabbing her and forcing her behind the dumpster.
After reviewing the video, the police executed a search warrant at the defendant’s home. Police recovered clothing matching the one wore by the attacker in the surveillance video. Ultimately, DNA evidence obtained from the defendant matched that taken from the victim following the victim’s medical exam.