A Miami jury said a man sexually abused a teen girl. He was granted a new trial
A man sentenced to life for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl was granted a new trial on Wednesday.
A three-judge panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeal reversed Eduardo Alfredo Medrano-Chavez’s conviction, finding that the trial court abused its discretion when it allowed the jury to consider a detective’s testimony about the victim’s statement being “genuine.” That error, according to the opinion, may have contributed to Medrano-Chavez’s conviction.
In November 2024, a jury convicted Medrano-Chavez, 51, of sexual activity with a minor and lewd and lascivious molestation. Five months later, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Christine Hernandez sentenced him to life.
In the opinion, Judge Thomas Logue wrote that there was no physical evidence — and that the victim was the only witness who testified about the sexual abuse.
“[The victim’s] credibility played an important role in the State’s prosecution of the case because it was [the victim’s] word versus Medrano-Chavez’s word,” the opinion says.
In 2021, the girl called Miami-Dade police to report that she had been sexually abused by Medrano-Chavez years prior, when she was 14 and 15, at an apartment just east of Miami International Airport. The sexual abuse happened more than 10 times, according to Medrano-Chavez’s police report.
After the girl, who is now living in Maryland, reported the abuse, Miami-Dade investigators requested that a Maryland detective interview the girl due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That interview was recorded, the opinion says, and Miami-Dade detectives received a copy of the video.
During the trial, the prosecutor asked the detective about the probe into the sexual-abuse allegations. The detective then testified that he saw the victim’s demeanor in the video and “from my experience, it was genuine.”
Medrano-Chavez’s defense attorney objected to the detective’s statement, and the judge overruled the objection. Under the rules of evidence, witnesses should not weigh in on the credibility of other witnesses; credibility is left for the jury to decide.
Explaining how the testimony could have led to Medrano-Chavez’s conviction, Judge Logue said Medrano-Chavez’s defense also centered on the victim’s credibility: He claimed the girl concocted the sexual abuse to apply for a special immigration visa reserved for crime victims.
The appeal was heard by Logue, Chief Judge Edwin Scales III and Judge Fleur Lobree of the 3DCA, which has 10 judges.
A hearing for Medrano-Chavez’s new trial has not been set as of Friday, court records show. Prison records indicate Medrano-Chavez remains at the Hamilton Annex in North Florida.
