A Travis County jury decided the fate of twin brothers convicted this week of aggravated assault and injury to a child.
The jury deliberated for nearly 8 hours before deciding on a punishment for Joshua and Caleb Thompson. On Wednesday both brothers were convicted on first and second-degree felonies.
As District Judge Brenda Kennedy read their punishment, Joshua and Caleb Thompson showed no emotion.
While there were no outbursts in the courtroom, emotion was evident as the Thompson brothers were sentenced for beating an 11-year-old boy with a stick and causing the boy to spend a week in intensive care and was on the verge of kidney failure.
Sheriff Margot Frasier along with a dozen sheriff’s deputies stood by because of the high emotion on both sides of the high profile case.
As the brothers returned to jail, many teared up. Prosecutors said justice was served and the jury sent an appropriate message.
“I think it sends the message that here in Travis County, we’re not gonna accept people abusing our children,” prosecutor Beth Payan said.
The defense was disappointed.
“Yeah, I was hoping that that message would be that today in this county and Austin, Texas, we will temper our punishment, we will temper our justice with compassion and tolerance,” defense attorney Gerry Goldstein said.
The Thompson brothers will have to serve half their sentence before they’re eligible for parole.
Joshua was given 26 years for injury to a child and 20 years for aggravated assault. He would serve both of those sentences concurrently.
Jurors sentenced Caleb Thompson to 14 years for both counts. He would also serve those sentences concurrently.
Defense attorneys said they will appeal the case.
The jurors in the Thompson brothers' trial had a difficult time agreeing on a sentence.
That's according to the jury foreman. He said jurors' opinions ranged from sentencing the brothers to probation to sentencing them to life.
In the end the jurors reached a compromise.
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Thompson brothers sentenced
Joshua was sentenced to 26 years and Caleb was sentenced to 14 years.
 
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"I think what we hope to get across besides just punishment for a heinous crime, is a message to the community that there is no excuse for abuse when it comes to our children. Not for any reason. Not for a religious reason, not for a try-to-make-the-child-better reason. There's no reason to abuse a child like this. This was not discipline, this was abuse. There's a very distinct line there, and this jury saw that," jury foreman Keith Elkins said.
"I'm satisfied with the sentence, but that isn't going to heal us of what they did. There's no way. If it was my choice, I would give them life," the victim's mother said.
Elkins also said the jury hopes this verdict sends a message to other children in abusive situations -- that their abusers will be punished.
Defense attorneys for the Thompson brothers said they would appeal the sentences handed down on Friday. Carlos Garcia, one of their attorneys, said he was worried about the Thompsons being targeted by other inmates in prison because of their religious background and the nature of the crime.
