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NEW IBERIA, La. (KLFY) — An Iberia Parish man received two life sentences plus 30 years Wednesday, Dec. 15 after his April conviction on child rape and battery charges, according to 16th Judicial District Attorney Bo Duhe.

Emeterio Rivera, 42, was convicted on April 9 on two counts of first-degree rape and one count of sexual battery of a child under 13. Duhe said that, at the trial, expert witnesses from the Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory and the Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory testified that the defendant’s DNA was consistent with DNA recovered from a rape kit and from the child’s bedroom.

Judge Keith Comeaux sentenced Rivera as follows:

  • First-degree rape (count 1)—life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.
  • First-degree rape (count 2)—life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.
  • Sexual battery of a child under the age of 13—30 years at hard labor, with the first 25 years to be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

All sentences will be served concurrently, said Duhe.