SAN ANTONIO – Children, the elderly and the disabled are the people in Bexar County who District Attorney Nico LaHood calls the most vulnerable.
"I believe they need that extra protection," LaHood said.
That's why LaHood said he and his team are proposing a new law that would create harsher punishment for serial abusers. LaHood plans to formally detail the legislation Wednesday, but opened up Tuesday to KSAT 12 News about what he calls the major gap in the system he wants to fill.
A case came across LaHood's desk in April that sparked enormous community outrage. Two injured children were found chained up in a Northeast Side backyard. The adults allegedly involved in that case are facing charges.
"That was one of the major cases, but we see cases that come across my desk all the time. And there's a gap that needs to be filled, in my humble opinion," LaHood said.
He said the gap limits how prosecutors are able to punish serial abusers, and he believes new legislation to increase the sentencing terms could deter some abuse.
"Here's an example. If there's an offender that commits an injury to a child but to multiple children in the same incident, we arrest him. Those are separate third-degree felony charges. Now, under this new legislation if it passes, God willing, it would be a first-degree felony," LaHood explained.
A third-degree felony sentences a person to 2-10 years behind bars, where a first-degree felony sentences him or her to five-99 years, or life.
The proposed legislation would also stiffen the consequences for those who continuously abuse children, the elderly, or the disabled in separate incidents.
"We're going after the most heinous offenders," LaHood said.
He said it also would specifically target those who abuse children under six years old.
"A child under six is going to be a first degree felony immediately, even if it's without serious bodily injury,” LaHood said. “Before we needed serious bodily injury. So this is going to give us more tools when talking about continuous abuse."
LaHood will formally release this proposed law at the Bexar County Courthouse Wednesday morning and offer even more detail. Then, he will start work to gather support from the community and state legislators, who will eventually have to pass it to make it a reality.