news-record.com

A Guilford County man serving 123 years in prison for a series of sexual assaults on a child had his appeal denied by a state court in a ruling handed down last week.

Daniel Edward Palacios, 39, argued that mistakes were made in his January 2011 trial that ended with a jury finding him guilty of four counts of taking indecent liberties with a child, four counts of felony child abuse, two counts of statutory rape, and one count each of statutory sexual offense and first-degree rape of a child.

Superior Court Judge Stuart Albright sentenced him to five consecutive prison terms that total a maximum of 123 years and eight months.

Trial testimony showed that Palacios began abusing the victim in the case when she was 10 years old and continued until she was 14 and she reported the incidents to a school counselor.

Palacios argued on appeal that Albright erred by allowing the victim to testify about some of the sexual assaults. The Appeals Court noted that the judge correctly analyzed whether the evidence was admissible under state law and found no prejudicial error was committed by allowing the testimony.

Albright noted that Palacios' acts were a continuous, uninterrupted course of conduct, and that the evidence was admissible "for the purpose of showing that there existed in the mind of (Palacios) a plan, scheme, or system or design involving the crimes charged in this case or the absence of mistake and the absence of accident. Additionally, the court found the evidence was relevant to show the defendant's modus operandi."

The court found that the value of the evidence was not outweighed "by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury or by any consideration of undue delay, waste of time or presentation of cumulative evidence."