Burnet man gets 99 years in sex offender case
A Burnet County jury gave a man a 99-year sentence for failure to register as a sex offender, the Burnet County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday.
BURNET, Texas (KXAN) – A Burnet County jury gave a man a 99-year prison sentence for failure to register as a sex offender, the Burnet County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday.
According to the announcement, the jury sentenced Aubrey Hart, 63, after prosecutors introduced evidence of his earlier felony convictions for rape, forgery, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and bail jumping.
The DA's office said officers went to Hart's home in Burnet on Feb. 13 to investigate an allegation against him. They arrested Hart as part of the investigation and told him he could not return home.
The DA said jurors were told during the trial that Hart needed to register as a sex offender because of a sexual assault conviction but did not report his status to Burnet Police.
According to the DA, Hart left Burnet County after a parole warrant was issued. Hart was found several weeks later in St. Louis, Missouri, with the help of the Attorney General's Office and federal fugitive task force agents, the DA's office said.
The DA said Hart used an alias in St. Louis and did not report his sex offender status to authorities there as well.
Assistant Burnet County District Attorneys Tiffany Clark and Amanda Dillon prosecuted the case.
Clark said in a statement to KXAN,
“This jury told a now 10-time convicted felon that enough was enough. Burnet County is not a place for sex offenders to try to run and hide. By their verdict, this jury has played a key role in protecting our community from this habitual offender.”
Assistant Burnet County District Attorney Tiffany Clark
The jury convicted Hart on Dec. 5.
Public Defenders Nathan Kight and Steven Zimmerman represented Aubrey Hart and Judge Evan Stubbs of the 424th District Court presided over the case, the DA's office said.