SAN ANTONIO – An Elemendorf man accused of beating a woman with a metal pipe outside his home in 2022 was found not guilty by a jury Wednesday.
Juan Tarin, 45, was charged in 2023 and later indicted on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
A jury in the 399th District Court found Tarin not guilty following a short trial.
Tarin was accused of using a metal go-kart pipe and his legs to repeatedly strike Stephanie Flores’ body after a disagreement outside his home in October 2022, charging paperwork shows, and Flores said.
Flores documented her facial injuries day by day in a series of photos taken after she said she was attacked. The photos at first showed significant swelling and discoloration around her eyes, as the bruising spread to cover much of her face days later.
Elmendorf Police Chief Marco Pena told TheTXLoop last year it was the “most severe case” he had seen in his more than 25 years in law enforcement.
Flores told TheTXLoop that late last year, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office failed to properly communicate with her about the case, and she questioned whether it was being handled properly.
Officials with the DA’s office this week declined to comment on the jury’s verdict.
Attorney for Tarin said investigators had “tunnel vision”
Tarin’s attorney, Mae Garza, told TheTXLoop Friday that the jury came to the correct conclusion on the case.
“The jury got it right. There were so many inconsistencies with her (Flores’) story. It’s just really sad that this guy lost so much time of his life,” said Garza, who theorized Flores relapsed on alcohol and likely caused the injuries herself.
Flores told TheTXLoop on Friday she was sober at that time and had stopped drinking because of an illness.
Garza told TheTXLoop that Elmendorf police investigators had “tunnel vision” in the case and had failed to search Tarin’s home for the pipe or other evidence.
Read more reporting on the TheTXLoop Investigates page.
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