Cooke County man gets 10+ life sentences for torturing children
COOKE COUNTY, Texas - A North Texas man was given more than 10 life sentences for torturing several children similar to the way POWs and political prisoners were tortured during the Korean and Vietnam wars, prosecutors said.
The Cooke County District Attorney’s Office said jurors deliberated for less than an hour on Monday before convicting 38-year-old David Calhoun on five counts of sexual assault of a child, seven counts of aggravated assault, and one count of assault strangulation.
David Calhoun
It took about the same amount of time for the jurors to deliberate on his punishment – 10 life sentences, a 10-year sentence, and two 20-year sentences.
So, it’s safe to say Calhoun will spend the rest of his life in prison because of the abuse he inflicted on several of his nephews and stepchildren who all lived with him in a fifth-wheel trailer near Gainesville, which is in northern Cooke County.
"The prolonged period of torture that the defendant put the children through in this case is the worst abuse that I have ever seen," said Eric Erlandson, a Cooke County prosecutor. "The mental, psychological, and physical torture that they endured for the better part of six years is unimaginable."
According to court documents, the abuse began in 2017 after Calhoun began caring for his nephews.
Investigators learned about what was happening in 2022 when police found Calhoun’s 16-year-old nephew in a Nebraska hotel room with several unrelated adults.
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The boy told police he’d left home to escape an extreme amount of physical and psychological abuse.
He showed them scars across his body and gave detailed accounts of being tied up for days, set on fire with gasoline, beat with a metal pipe, stabbed with a kitchen knife, and burned on his face and genitals almost daily with either a lighter or a cattle prod.
The boy said Calhoun had used a Channellock to remove his fingernails and toenails. He’d knocked out several of his teeth with brass knuckles and he’d wrapped a hair tie around his testicles for 24 hours.
Investigators later found evidence that the abuse had occurred in multiple cities across East Texas and that multiple children and other adults in the home were being victimized.
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"The abuse increased until it reached its climax in the summer of 2022 in Cooke County, Texas. At which time, the abuse was described by Pamela Miller, Senior Policy Analyst with the APSAC Center for Child Policy, as Intrafamilial Child Torture—which is almost indistinguishable from the type of torture that POWs and political prisoners suffered during the Korean War and the Vietnam War," the Cooke County DA’s office said.
"The resilience and strength that the children showed in this case is awe-inspiring. They never gave up and showed tremendous courage from the very beginning. The lasting legacy of this case is that evil will not prevail—even when things seemed hopeless the children were determined to make their story heard," Erlandson said.
Calhoun’s wife, Ashley Calhoun, and another adult living in the home were also indicted because of their connection to the case. They are set to go to trial in April.