A district judge’s son who was indicted on sex crime charges has pleaded no contest to a lesser charge and has been sentenced to intensive deferred probation.

Robert Wyatt Evans

Robert Wyatt Evans, 19, of Sanger, pleaded “nolo contendere” to injury to a child, the elderly or disabled, a third-degree felony. He received five years intensive probation, deferred, which means that the rules he must adhere to are more stringent than regular probation. If he successfully completes the probation, the case will not be entered as a conviction on his criminal record.

He was indicted on charges of sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child in March, accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy, when he was 18. The boy was not legally of age to consent to having sex. Both original charges are second-degree felonies and carry penalties of two to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000 each.

If he had been convicted on the sex charges, he would have been mandated to register as a sex offender. The injury to a child charge does not require that Evans’ name be added to the sex offender list.

Judge Lee Gabriel, who presides over the 367th District Court, is Evans’ mother. She declined comment.

Because of that relationship, District Attorney Paul Johnson recused himself from the case to avoid any possibility of a conflict of interest, as did 362nd District Judge Bruce McFarling. McFarling asked a regional administrative judge to appoint a visiting judge, who appointed Wichita Falls lawyer Ron Poole as special prosecutor in the case.

Texas law states that if a teen who is at least three years older than a teen under the age of 17 has a consensual sexual relationship with the younger teen, the older teen can be charged with sexual assault. Evans’ attorney, Rick Hagen, said that his client is three years and 12 days older than the other boy.

Hagen responded to a request for comment with the following written statement:

“This case involves two high school students who engaged in a consensual dating relationship. The media has chosen to report this event because one of the parents of the young men involved is a public figure. Cases involving the conduct of public figures are worthy of attention. Cases involving the conduct of their children and family members are not. I have personal knowledge of other situations where family members of public figures have been arrested and the media did not report it. Media coverage of these incidents discourages qualified individuals from seeking positions of authority and serves no purpose. On numerous occasions the media reports an arrest and fails to report the disposition. To say that because this case was reported before requires further attention is inconsistent with the coverage of other cases. The efforts of the officials involved to avoid the appearance of special treatment resulted in this young man being punished more severely than those similarly situated. Officials typically do not prosecute cases involving consenting high school students or those cases are reduced to misdemeanors.”

The boy’s parents contacted the Texas Rangers when they found out about the relationship, and a Collin County-based Ranger not associated with Denton County handled the case.

The Denton Record-Chronicle does not identify sexual assault victims.

Evans was a Sanger High School student at the time the allegations came to light in late 2007. Evans graduated in May from Sanger High School. Sanger Superintendent Jack Biggerstaff said when Evans was indicted in March he was placed in the District Alternative Education Program. He remained there until graduation.

DONNA FIELDER can be reached at 940-566-6885. Her e-mail address is dfielder@dentonrc.com .