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On Friday, March 26th, a Lubbock man was found guilty by a jury of breaking into a woman's home and raping her.

37-year-old Manuel Juarez-Mendez used to be in a relationship with the victim, whose identity has not been listed.

During the trial, the victim's neighbor testified that Juarez-Mendez broke into the victim's home on that day in May of 2018. She says that she could hear the victim's screams all the way from her house. A separate witness said that afterward when the victim was taken to the hospital, she wasn't able to stop crying. She was described as "bewildered" and is said to have had a hard time gathering her words.

The victim testified that Juarez-Mendez covered her mouth with a blanket and put a pillow over her face, causing her to pass out at some point during the struggle. Reports say that the victim's children were in the home while this took place.

KAMC News reports that when officers arrived at the home, they located both Juarez-Mendez and the victim, who was "inconsolable."

During closing arguments, the defense claimed that the victim was "the mistress in this soap opera," while the prosecution said that the evidence pointing towards the victim not wanting to have sex with this man was incontrovertible.

Juarez-Mendez now faces up to life in prison with the possibility of parole, but his sentencing has not been handed down yet.

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