Jury announces verdict in Brittany Rouleau sexual assault trial

Editor’s Note: This news story contains information about child sexual abuse. If you know or suspect that a person under 18 is being sexually or physically abused, call the Texas Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-252-5400. To learn more about how to recognize signs of child abuse or neglect, Click here.

A Wichita County jury convicted Brittany Ann Rouleau on Friday of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and sentenced her to 60 years in prison.

Rouleau, 38, was being held in the Wichita County Jail Friday evening, online jail records show.

In October 2020, she was charged with sexually abusing a male relative in 2018, when the boy was about 12 years old.

In the final declarations of 89^th Assistant District Attorney Brooke Grona-Robb told district court that the victim was manipulated by Rouleau into having sex with her.

“The child was abused by this woman at the age of 11 or 12. ‘Come on, let’s do it,’ she said,” Grona-Robb told jurors.

Assistant District Attorney Chelsea Carlton said the boy “lost his childhood at the hands of those who were supposed to protect him.”

She said the boy had “experienced terrible things.”

“It’s not a difficult decision,” she told the panel.

But defense attorney Lee Ann Marsh said the verdict was ultimately: “He said, she said.”

“If there was any evidence, you would have it,” she said. “You have no evidence whatsoever.”

Marsh said prosecutors did not call a child welfare investigator to the stand to support their position, and she pointed to inconsistencies between the boy’s statements to an interviewer at Patsy’s House Children’s Advocacy Center and his testimony on the stand.

“In this case, nothing fits together,” she said.

The jury had the choice of acquitting Rouleau or convicting her of a less serious offense involving a child. If they had convicted her of sexual assault, they could have given her a life sentence, with parole eligibility in 30 years.

During the sentencing hearing, prosecutors called a former Clay County deputy and an emergency medical technician to the stand to testify about an incident that occurred on March 24, 2023. Kenneth Dewayne Douglas, 57, was stabbed to death in a Petrolia home.

Both men testified that they found Rouleau, who had been released from the Wichita County Jail on bail at the time, covered in blood in the house.

The paramedic told the jury that Rouleau was riding in his ambulance and said: “I’m scared. This doesn’t look good.”

Rouleau has been charged with Douglas’ murder and is awaiting trial in Clay County. Her bail for the unrelated murder is set at $600,000.

The week-long trial in Wichita County was marked by numerous defense objections and visits to the bench, leading Judge Charles Barnard of the 89th District to ask the attorneys to clear things up and keep the trial moving.

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