Man convicted in Las Vegas for years of sexual abuse of his children, others
A Las Vegas jury convicted a 52-year-old man Thursday of dozens of counts for wielding a decade of sexual torture over his own children and other family members.
Christopher Sena could be sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.
“The evidence in this case was horrendous,” Chief Deputy District Attorney James Sweetin told reporters after the verdict.
Each of Sena’s seven child victims and two of his former wives described Sena’s manipulation, control, abuse and sexual assaults in their testimony throughout the monthlong trial.
Sena was found guilty of multiple counts of sexual assault with a minor, incest, use of a minor in the production of pornography, lewdness with a child younger than 14 and child abuse. Some of the acts were videotaped and played to the jury at trial.
Jurors deliberated 1½ days before finding Sena guilty of 95 of the 120 counts he faced.
Deputy Public Defenders Violet Radosta and David Lopez-Negrete said the conviction would be appealed automatically.
Radosta said she recognized the jury’s “thoughtful approach” to the verdict and called the case “one of the toughest we’ve ever had.”
Defense attorneys had asked jurors to rely on video evidence, rather than testimony of victims and his then-wife, Deborah Sena, and ex-wife Terrie Sena, who also were charged and have been sent to prison.
After Las Vegas police learned of the abuse allegations in late 2014, a SWAT team served a warrant at the family’s trailer south of Nellis Air Force Base. Authorities later learned that Christopher Sena videotaped sexual abuse of the children and sexual encounters with a family dog.
In a 2015 correspondence with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, one of Christopher Sena’s accusers, now an adult, said the man had video cameras set up around their home in the 6000 block of Yellowstone Avenue, watching them at all hours.
Initially, Deborah Sena and a child told a family law attorney about the abuse. That attorney contacted police, who seized recording equipment from the home.
Sweetin called Deborah Sena and Terrie Sena “perpetrators just like the defendant,” while acknowledging the role of their testimony.
“The children in this case are clearly victims in every sense of the word,” the prosecutor said. “It’s my hope that they’ll be able to get on with their lives after this.”
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.