Man Found Guilty Of Rape Of Juvenile

A Shreveport man will face life in prison after a jury found him guilty of aggravated rape.

The verdict was handed down on December 8, 2016 by a six-man, six-woman Caddo Parish jury, who deliberated for only 90 minutes before returning the decision. 64-year-old Joseph Michael Kurz was found guilty of raping a male relative under age 12 in the period between 1976 and 1977.

John Andrew Prime of the Caddo Parish District Attorney's Office gives us details on how the victim came forward.

The victim reported the crime to authorities in 2014 after seeing news coverage of Kurz's arrest on a charge of indecent behavior with a juvenile, the second victim not related to the first.

An investigation by the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s office uncovered four additional victims who claimed they were molested by Kurz in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A subsequent search of Kurz's residence uncovered child pornography on his computer.

The Caddo Parish District Attorney prosecuted the defendant on a charge of aggravated rape because it carries a life sentence without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

Caddo District Judge Katherine Dorroh, who presided over the four-day trial, will formally impose the sentence on December 15, 2016.