"Jane" OLIVAS-LOPEZ - 14 yo - Madison WI

A Town of Madison man accused of
torturing his 14-year-old daughter has been convicted of 21 counts
of child abuse.


A jury on Friday found 39-year-old Porfirio Olivas guilty of
kicking, punching and choking his daughter, as well as beating her
with a metal tube. Olivas was also convicted of breaking his
3-year-old son's leg in 2007.


Olivas was cleared of second-degree sexual assault and two
child-abuse charges.


The girl's mother has also been convicted of child abuse.
Thirty-three-year-old Minerva Lopez pleaded no contest last month
to six charges.


The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Olivas' attorney said
there was no doubt the bruised and emaciated girl had suffered
horrible injuries. But he asked the jury to question what proof
showed Olivas inflicted them.

A Town of Madison man convicted of torturing his 14-year-old daughter
has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

A Dane County jury found 39-year-old Porfirio Olivas guilty last year of
kicking, punching and choking his daughter, as well as beating her with
a metal tube. He was also convicted of breaking his 3-year-old son's
leg in 2007.

Judge Stephen Ehlke on Thursday called the abuse "about the worst thing
that can happen to a child."

The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Olivas blames his wife, saying
he caused few if any of his daughter's injuries.

His wife is 34-year-old Minerva Lopez. She has pleaded no contest to six
counts of child abuse and will be sentenced on April 6.

The couple's five children are all with foster parents.

A town of Madison mother convicted of severely abusing her
14-year-old daughter cannot withdraw no contest pleas she made that
led to her conviction on six counts of child abuse.

Dane County Circuit Judge Nicholas McNamara said Tuesday that
Minerva Lopez, 34, entered knowing, voluntary and intelligent pleas
on Nov. 19 as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Lopez will be sentenced on June 1.

While McNamara agreed that Lopez has a fair and just reason to
withdraw her plea, he said allowing her to do so would be unfairly
prejudicial to prosecutors who would no longer be able to use some
of the evidence that was used at a trial in December for Lopez's
husband, Porfirio Olivas.

Olivas, 39, was found guilty of 21 counts of child abuse and was
sentenced to 20 years in prison.

McNamara said that video of an interview with the girl taken
within weeks of her parents' arrest, which was used at Olivas'
trial, could not be used at a trial for Lopez because the girl has
since turned 16. Only child witnesses can testify on videotape
under state law.

If the girl is recovering from the physical and emotional trauma
that she suffered, McNamara said, putting memories of the abuse
behind her would be part of her recovery. That would make it
unlikely that she could testify now in the same detail that she did
during the taped interview, he said.

A Town of Madison
woman who pleaded no contest to 22 felony child abuse charges was
sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison and 10 years of extended
supervision.Minerva Lopez, 34, was accused along with her
husband, Porfino Olivas-Lopez, of beating, choking and kicking a
14-year-old girl.The abuse also involved four other children, one
as young as 2 weeks old.One detective called it the worst child
abuse case he'd ever seen."They wake up at night screaming from
nightmares and the relationship between the children has been severely
damaged by the actions of Ms. Lopez and her husband," said Corey
Stephan, the prosecuting attorney.Her husband, Olivas-Lopez, was
sentenced in March to 20 years in prison.