Staff report

A Hays County jury today assessed three life sentences and $30,000 in fines against James Robert Montoya, who was convicted this week of aggravated kidnapping and two counts of aggravated sexual assault, according to a release by county officials.

The evidence at trial showed that Montoya abducted a young woman on Feb. 8, 2011, in Hays County when she ran out of gas on Interstate-35. Montoya physically assaulted her, dragging her to his truck when she attempted to flee.

Montoya then sexually assaulted the young woman before she managed to strike him over the head with a beer bottle. She called police as Montoya fled the remote construction site where he had taken her.

San Marcos Police Department detectives conducted what they called a thorough investigation but were unable to identify the perpetrator. Then in March of 2012, Montoya abducted and sexually assaulted an Austin woman during the South by Southwest festival.

Forensic scientists at the University of North Texas and the Texas Department of Public Safety used DNA collected from the Travis County crime scene to connect Montoya to the 2011 Hays County case.

During the punishment phase of the trial this week, jurors heard from the Travis County victim from a 2006 attempted assault victim and a Hays Caldwell Women’s Center expert about the long-term effects of sexual violence.

Prior to his conviction in this case, Montoya was convicted in Travis County of a separate 2012 sexual assault for which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. 207th District Court Judge Jack Robison, who presided over the Hays County case, ordered Montoya’s life sentences be served consecutively to his sentence in Travis County.