DENTON COUNTY, Texas — The Denton County District Attorney's Office has confirmed that it plans to move forward with the child sex abuse case against former Texas Rangers pitcher John Wetteland after a mistrial last week.
Prosecutors sent a statement to WFAA, saying, "We will be moving forward – that could mean plea bargain negotiations or retrial – up to him."
Wetteland, who pitched for the Rangers in the late 1990s, was arrested in 2019 on charges of continuous aggravated sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14.
On Sept. 2, a Denton County judge declared a mistrial in his case after the jury came back with a split decision, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by WFAA in 2019, Wetteland allegedly assaulted the child three times between 2004 and 2006 at his then-home in Bartonville.
The Star-Telegram reported that Wetteland faced three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and that he denied the accusations during his trial last week. The judge reported hearing arguments from the deliberation room before telling her three times that the decision was split.
Wetteland faces up to life in prison on the charges, if convicted.