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A potential juror was held in contempt of court and taken to jail Monday.\u00a0H. Lee Brucato, 71, of\u00a0Wolfforth was among 98 prospective jurors in the criminal trial of Jose Gonzalez.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brucato disrupted the proceedings according to court documents.\u00a0Attorneys tried to keep going with the\u00a0jury\u00a0selection process, including asking questions of potential jurors. It can also include a discussion of the details of the case.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBrucato\u00a0\u2026\u00a0made a statement that she did not want to listen to anything about child sexual abuse,\u201d\u00a0a court order said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Attorneys tried to keep going.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The criminal case\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gonzalez, 35, is going on trial in the 140th District Court for a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14.\u00a0Previous\u00a0news reports said an underage girl in Central Lubbock came forward to report sexual abuse in March 2025. The reports also said Gonzalez admitted to police there had been sexual acts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBrucato again made a statement akin to she would not listen to anything about child sexual abuse,\u201d said the contempt order signed by State District Judge Douglas Freitag.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Attorneys approached the bench to talk with\u00a0Freitag for a moment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter concluding the bench conference with the attorneys, the court admonished the panel\u00a0as a whole that\u00a0the court was sure that each of them would not like everything they would hear during a criminal trial \u2026 Just because they\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0want to hear something or\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0like something that they heard, those were not reasons to excuse someone from their service,\u201d court records said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brucato again said she would not listen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Court then admonished her that she didn\u2019t have to listen,\u201d the contempt order said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But she was not\u00a0excused\u00a0and would have to remain for the jury selection process.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBrucato, \u2026 while standing from her seat then made statements before the entirety of the jury panel that it was her choice and she would not listen despite the court\u2019s continued admonishments. Based upon the repeated statements from \u2026 and the continued disruption of the court\u2019s proceedings, the court then ordered H. Lee Brucato \u2026 into custody,\u201d the order said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was ordered to stay in\u00a0jail\u00a0until Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. or until jury proceedings wrap up \u2013 whichever comes first.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Attorney information was not listed for Brucato, so LubbockLights.com was unable to offer a chance to comment.\u00a0District Attorney Sunshine Stanek chose not to\u00a0comment\u00a0and Freitag has not responded to LubbockLights.com.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jury duty exemptions include:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
75 years of age or older\u00a0<\/p>\n
Has legal custody of a child younger than 12 years without other adequate supervision\u00a0<\/p>\n
Student of a public or private secondary school\u00a0<\/p>\n
Attending an institution of higher education\u00a0<\/p>\n
Officer or an employee of the Senate, House of\u00a0Representatives\u00a0or other agency in the legislative branch of state government\u00a0<\/p>\n
Was already summoned (with exceptions) in the last two\u00a0years in a county with at least 200,000 people or 3 years in a county of more than 250,000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Primary caretaker of a person who is unable to care for himself or herself\u00a0<\/p>\n
On active duty and deployed to a location away from home\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
A district court may permanently or temporarily exempt someone\u00a0for\u00a0a physical\u00a0or mental impairment\u00a0<\/p>\n
Source: Texas Government Code 62.106 and 62.109\u00a0<\/p>\n
Link: Lubbock County jury information page<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n
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