A 33-year-old father in Texas faces the grim prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars for the horrific torture of his twin 6-year-old daughters, which resulted in the death of one of them.
Justin Hopper was found guilty by a Brazos County jury on Thursday of felony injury to a child, specifically for intentionally causing serious bodily harm to Arianna Rose Battelle.
The same jury sentenced Hopper to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole for the brutal killing of young Arianna Rose Battelle.
His wife, Jessica Bundren, was similarly convicted of the same charge in November 2023 and received a life sentence.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, the tragedy unfolded on the evening of Tuesday, October 27, 2020.
Police and emergency medical personnel were called to a home in the 700 block of Garden Acres at about 9 p.m. following a report of a child, later identified as Arianna, who was not breathing.
Upon arrival, first responders encountered Bundren, who initially claimed Arianna had fallen down the stairs earlier in the evening and had been put to bed.
She said that when she checked on Arianna later, the child had stopped breathing.
Arianna was found lying on the floor, covered with a sheet, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The police observed numerous visible injuries on her body, including bruises and marks consistent with belt strikes.
During an interview with police, Bundren eventually admitted she had struck Arianna with a belt six times as punishment for wetting the bed.
Investigators discovered a belt in the home matching the pattern of the marks on Arianna’s skin.
It was also revealed that Hopper routinely whipped the children with belts as a form of punishment.
The abuse extended beyond belt beatings.
The girls were frequently punished for minor actions, such as taking too long to eat lunch, according to authorities.
Prosecutors presented evidence that Hopper and Bundren regularly used other weapons, including wooden paddles, to beat the girls.
During the trial, it was disclosed that at the time of Arianna’s death, her twin sister had two broken fingers, which she attributed to being beaten with the paddle by her father.
Hopper initially denied knowledge of the abuse.
However, a forensic search of his phone revealed he was regularly updated with photos of the girls' injuries.
"He knew about the marks and abuse because he was updated, almost daily, with photos of the girls," police wrote in the affidavit.
Medical experts testified that both Arianna and her sister had endured extreme and prolonged torture. Arianna ultimately succumbed to her injuries, and her death was described as slow and painful. "Arianna was beaten to death. She was tortured," one medical expert testified during Bundren’s trial.
"Her death was slow and painful."
A forensic nurse who treated Arianna’s sister remarked that, among the 400 cases of child abuse she had handled, the surviving daughter's case was the worst she had ever encountered.
Under Texas state law, both Hopper and Bundren must serve a minimum of 30 years of their sentences before they become eligible for parole.
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