DENTON, Texas — The relative of John Wetteland who accused the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame pitcher of sexual assaulting him as a child testified about the abuse Tuesday to a Denton County jury.
Wetteland is charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. The relative alleges the 56-year-old forced him to perform a sex act on Wetteland three times between 2004 and 2006, beginning when the child was 4 years old.
On the witness stand, the man said his mental health suffered and he experienced incontinence into his teens because of the abuse. His eyes were fixed ahead of him for the majority of his hours-long testimony. Wetteland looked at the man periodically and took notes. Some of Wetteland’s family, who are not expected to testify, were seated in the front row of the courtroom gallery.
When the relative described the abuse, Wetteland leaned back in his chair. One juror’s mouth was agape throughout the testimony; other jurors’ brows were furrowed.
The man called the abuse “weird” and “gross,” but said his naïveté and young age stopped him from understanding it was wrong.
“What John did to me finally came to the forefront of my mind and I had all these questions,” he said. “Confusion turned to anger.”
The Dallas Morning News typically does not identify those alleging sexual assault. Aggravated sexual assault of a child is a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison.
The relative, who is now 22 and lives out of state, said the abuse took place in the master bathroom shower of Wetteland’s Bartonville home, about 10 miles south of Denton.
“He didn’t know it was wrong,” prosecutor Lindsey Sheguit said during opening statements early Tuesday. “He was too little. (Wetteland) was his world.”
Sheguit later told jurors, “It’s hard to talk about these things — when you’re 4, 5 or 6 or 22.”
Wetteland’s lawyer, Derek Adame, called the relative’s story “fiction” in the defense’s opening statement. Adame painted the relative as a “spoiled brat.”
Adame suggested the relative was manipulated by his stepfather to bring false allegations against Wetteland and “accidentally on purpose” alerted the school to the abuse.
“It’s a great story,” Adame said. “It’s too good to be true because it’s not true.”
The 22-year-old told a man, whom lawyers described as his stepfather, about the abuse when he was in early high school. Prosecutors said the stepfather is not expected to testify.
Years after the disclosure and during his senior year, the relative wrote a letter intended for his family about the abuse. The letter, which was typed into a Google doc using his school-issued email, was flagged by administrators and kick-started an investigation.
The man said he wanted it to be kept private and “never intended to tell anyone” of the assault.
“I wanted closure, and I just wanted two words — I wanted an ‘I’m sorry’ — and it would have been done for me,” he said.
A younger sibling of the relative testified that she found her brother trustworthy, and he insisted to her the abuse happened.
The trial inside the Denton County courtroom comes three and a half years after Wetteland’s arrest. Wetteland and his wife, Rebecca Wetteland, embraced before the court adjourned for lunch. Testimony is set to continue Tuesday afternoon.
Wetteland spent 12 years in the Major Leagues, pitching for four teams and converting 330 saves. He was the 1996 World Series MVP with the New York Yankees and then signed a four-year deal with the Rangers.
He retired after the 2000 season, and his 150 saves with the Rangers are still the most in franchise history.
Wetteland was elected to the Rangers Hall of Fame in 2005 and held a coaching and front office position with the team in the early 2000s. He was a bullpen coach for several other teams. He also coached and taught Bible classes at Argyle’s Liberty Christian School in 2007 and 2008.
Though Wetteland is in the Rangers’ Hall of Fame, the club no longer has official ties with him.
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