Thursday, May. 01, 2008

Plea hearing delayed again for coach accused of sexual child abuse

Atwater man's Modesto attorney was unable to attend hearing

By SCOTT JASON
sjason@mercedsun-star.com

An Atwater softball coach accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl did not enter a plea Wednesday because his Modesto-based attorney could not make the hearing.

Henry Esparza Jr., 41, appeared in Merced County Superior Court on a video link from the John Latorraca Correctional Center. His hearing Tuesday was delayed for the same reason.

Esparza will be represented by Kirk McAllister, a criminal defense attorney who briefly represented death row inmate Scott Peterson in his murder trial. McAllister did not return phone calls for comment.

Wearing a gray jumpsuit, reserved for prisoners in protective custody, Esparza sat with messy hair, rocking his head left and right slightly. He let out a quiet sigh at the end of the minute-long hearing when he stood up to be taken back to his cell.

He's now scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Monday afternoon on four felony counts of molestation and is being held in jail in lieu of $870,000 bail.

He's accused of committing a lewd act with a child under age 14, oral copulation with a child under 14 and sexual penetration with a foreign object.

There are no other criminal cases against Esparza filed with the Merced County Court.

Atwater Police Department officers arrested him at his Pacemaker Drive home Friday after his wife told officers he had been molesting a 14-year-old girl for the past several years.

Esparza appeared before Judge Armando Rodriguez, of Fresno County, to prevent any conflict of interests because he has family ties to one of the Merced County judges.

The court has declined to identify the judge connected to Esparza. It's unclear if an outside judge will oversee the entire case.

A year ago, Esparza was coaching a boys basketball team for Atwater's recreation youth program, a city representative said. He did that for a couple years.

He also coached a traveling fast-pitch softball team and regularly rented playing fields from the city.

Reporter Scott Jason can be reached at (209) 385-2453 or

sjason@mercedsun-star.com.