Convicted child sex abuser who skipped trial before jurors sentenced him to life has hung himself: Cops

Richard Jay Duplessis, 41, was found hanged after he missed the last day of trial for sexually abusing a young girl. Jurors convicted him and sentenced him to life in prison. (Mugshot: Galveston County District Attorney’s Office)

A 41-year-old man who didn’t appear for the last day of his trial for sexually abusing a 6-year-old girl has apparently taken his own life before he could serve any time.

A jury in Galveston, Texas had convicted Richard Jay Duplessis of continuous sexual abuse of a child and sentenced him to life in prison on Thursday, July 20. The defendant, however, wasn’t in court to hear his fate that day. Authorities searched for him — a search that reached a morbid end days later.

“Richard Jay Duplessis was found Tuesday, July 25, hanged, in a home in the 3500 block of Ave. S 1/2, Galveston,” Assistant Criminal District Attorney Brent Haynes wrote in a press statement to Law&Crime. “The decedent’s identify was confirmed by an investigator with the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office.  The mother and godmother of the decedent also confirmed the decedent’s identity to the Galveston Police Department.”

During the punishment phase of Duplessis’s trial, jurors took only 10 minutes to decide to sentence him to the maximum possible: life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors said one victim stepped forward on Aug. 12, 2022 to say that Duplessis had sexually assaulted her since she was 6. The abuse began in May 2021 and ended in February 2022, authorities said.

The trial, which began on July 18, showed testimony from two other victims who Duplessis sexually abused when they were children, according to prosecutors.

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Chief Assistant District Attorney Raneca Henson said in closing arguments that Duplessis took advantage of the girl’s trust and innocence.

“The State also presented text messages that showed the nature of inappropriate communication the defendant had with the child,” prosecutors said. “The defendant has shown he is a predator,  and he preys on young girls that can’t protect themselves.”