A 40-year-old Prairieville man faces up 40 years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to the second-degree rape of a young boy more than five years ago.
Jacob P. Babin had been set for a trial this week in Ascension Parish but reached an agreement with 23rd Judicial District prosecutors after potential jurors had been summoned to the parish courthouse in Gonzales.
Assistant District Attorney Phil Maples said prosecutors were ready to go to trial but would have needed to call three minors to the stand, so offering the plea agreement was in their best interest.
According to the plea, Babin acknowledged that two minors, who were both younger than 10 at the time, witnessed the rape. The incident prompted a complaint to Ascension sheriff’s deputies in late September 2017.
Babin, of the 37000 block of Miller Road, had been charged with first-degree rape. By the taking the plea to a second-degree rape charge on Tuesday, Babin avoided a potential life sentence.
Under the plea, prosecutors and Babin’s defense attorney also agreed to a pre-sentence investigation and set parameters for a possible sentence from Judge Cody Martin once that investigation is done: 10 to 40 years.
Babin will also have to register as a sex offender once he is released from prison.
Martin is scheduled to sentence Babin on June 27.
Defense attorney Thomas Damico did immediately return a message left at his office Friday.
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