A warrant was issued Thursday for 81-year-old Joseph Allen Nezat, a Comfort resident alleged to be on hospice care, after he failed to appear in court for sentencing on a first-degree felony charge.
Nezat pleaded guilty Feb. 11 to the charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, and his sentencing hearing was scheduled more than a month and half before he failed to appear. His defense attorney, Dante Dominguez, said Nezat didn’t have a ride and had recently been taken off dialysis, making it difficult for him to come in.
Dominguez had filed a motion for a continuance 24 hours before his sentencing was set to take place, which 451st District Court Judge Kirsten Cohoon denied.
“What you’re asking the court to do, Mr. Dominguez, is something the court cannot do,” Cohoon said. “I cannot reset the case in the hopes that someone perishes, which is what you are asking this court to do. I cannot do that. I simply cannot do that.”
While Dominguez clarified he wasn’t hoping his client would perish, he did suggest Nezat could pass at any time. Alessandra Deike, the Kendall County assistant criminal district attorney filling in for fellow ADA Nick Socias, asked that Nezat’s bond be revoked as the case had been pending for a very long time.
“In the instant – the instant – that Mr. Nezat is picked up, you (Dominguez) will make yourself available to the court, and we will sentence Mr. Nezat at that time,” Cohoon said. “I do not think it will be difficult to find him. As soon as I find him, we will sentence him because it can’t just go on to a question mark.”
The warrant is expected to be filed and issued by Monday, and Nezat is expected to be sentenced for his crimes as soon as he arrives at the courthouse.
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