Luis Perez goes on trial Monday in Schuylkill County Court on charges he raped a minor over a span of years.
Perez, 26, of Shenandoah, faces 10 counts, among them rape of a child, rape by forcible compulsion, and aggravated indecent assault of a child. Three of those counts are first degree felonies.
President Judge Jacqueline L. Russell will preside. The jury trial is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 2 at the Schuylkill County Courthouse in Pottsville and is expected to continue into Tuesday.
Assistant District Attorney Michael Fiorillo and Senior Deputy District Attorney Jen Foose will prosecute the case. Kent D. Watkins represents Perez.
Perez was charged in April with 13 counts. Prosecutors dropped three of them in an amended information filed Sept. 17, all second degree felonies. He has been held at Schuylkill County Prison since his arrest on April 22, when bail was set at $275,000.
Prosecutors notified the court in September that they intend to seek a mandatory minimum sentence. Perez faces at least 25 years in prison if he is convicted on all counts.
The case was supposed to go before a jury in September. Russell granted a continuance on Sept. 14 after Watkins raised concerns about discovery, including the absence of any record of a forensic interview with the girl. Foose told the court that everything had been turned over and that no forensic interview was conducted.
Watkins also told the court he had not been able to go over the timeline of the allegations with his client, because the police affidavit lists a single date, May 1, 2014, for conduct alleged to have spanned several years. Russell said there were significant matters to address, and both sides asked for the delay.
Shenandoah police charged Perez in April after receiving a Childline report about a pregnant minor, according to court records. Police say Perez sexually assaulted the girl over several years, beginning when she was about 5 years old, and that she became pregnant. Police say she gave birth earlier this year and identified Perez as the father.
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