CHATSWORTH, Ga. — A man who was found guilty by a Murray County jury of aggravated child molestation and other charges in October was sentenced Wednesday by Superior Court Judge William Boyett to 25 years in prison without the possibility of parole followed by life on probation, according to a release from the district attorney’s office.

Diego Martin Pena was convicted of aggravated child molestation, child molestation and statutory rape. The aggravated child molestation charge carried the strongest sentence of 25 years without the possibility of parole and life on probation. The child molestation and statutory rape counts saw sentences of 15 years, to be served concurrently.

Pena, of White, was convicted after his lawyer said the jury didn’t believe the victim had sex with him while he “was in a coma” after a late-night business trip to Florida.

According to a release from District Attorney Bert Poston, “the investigation began in 2012 when the victim was 15 after reports were presented through Murray County Schools. The victim was pregnant at the time but it was initially believed that the father of the child was a classmate of similar age.

“In 2014, after the victim had moved out of state, paternity testing revealed that Pena was the child’s father. That revelation led the Murray County Sheriff’s Office to reopen their investigation and request additional DNA testing through the Georgia State Crime Lab.

“The sexual acts occurred between 2008 and 2011 when the victim was 11 to 14 years of age. The district attorney’s office sought an indictment once the Georgia DNA testing was completed in early 2015.”

Detective Brett Morrison of the Murray County Sheriff’s Office presented the case with Assistant District Attorney Ben Kenemer.

Defense attorney Tom West said at the time of the trial that Pena never denied he was the father of the child when confronted with the DNA evidence, but that “if there was any sexual contact, it was while he was in a coma.”

West said Pena and the girl’s father worked together in a car salvage business and had taken a trip to Florida, returning home late in the night. He said Pena slept on the floor at the house, which had several families living in it.

“His mother-in-law testified she was sleeping on the sofa and looked down and seen the girl had climbed on top of Pena and was having sex with him,” West said. “She tried to wake him up and he could not be … . It turned out that was nine months before the birth of the child.”