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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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0 6 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 4 Probation violation leads to 35-year sentence
By Glenda Taylor
The 198th District Courtroom erupted into cheers from onlookers Friday morning after Judge Karl Prohl revoked the probation of 29-year-old Joseph Daniel Pruneda and sentenced him to 35 years in the Texas Department of Corrections.
The defendant pled true to the allegations that he did not complete the terms of his probation, which included staying drug-free, completion of 1,000 hours of community service, staying current on his probation fees and completing an anger management class.
Pruneda received probation after pleading guilty to charges of injury to a child in 2002. He was accused of severely injuring his young daughter, who sustained 11 broken bones in her arms, legs and ribs as a result of the attack. The child also was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma, a collection of blood on the brain’s surface usually caused by a serious head injury.
Members of the injured child’s family present in the courtroom loudly cheered Prohl’s decision to incarcerate Pruneda, at which point the handcuffed defendant jumped up out of his chair and yelled obscenities at the judge and the cheering onlookers. Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer, who was observing the hearing, rushed over to the defendant, forcing him back into his chair, while Prohl was ushered out of the courtroom for his safety.
Pruneda’s parents, who also were present, loudly voiced their objections to Prohl’s ruling. Pruneda’s father said his son “might as well be dead” as a result of the lengthy pronounced sentence. As he helped Pruneda’s sobbing mother to her feet, he said, “We don’t have a son anymore.”
Pruneda’s wife, Jennifer Prenada, who is not the mother of the injured child, also was visibly distraught after the reading of the sentence and loudly voiced objections regarding its length.
After the families cleared the courtroom, law enforcement personnel were called into the hallway on the second floor of the courthouse to intervene when an altercation broke out between the injured child’s family members and Pruneda’s father.
Amos Barton, 198th Assistant District Attorney, who was not serving in the DA’s office at the time, said that Pruneda received probation because witnesses were reluctant to testify against him in the 2002 case. The 198th D.A.’s office accepted probation for the defendant in exchange for a guilty plea.
Pruneda, a bodybuilder who regularly took over-the-counter supplements and suffers from a self-admitted alcohol and drug problem, has a lengthy criminal history in the Kerr County area dating back to 1992. He has been jailed in the Kerr County jail 13 times, according to Hierholzer, with charges ranging from DWI to burglary of a motor vehicle to the two counts of injury to a child in April 2002.
It was Pruneda’s extensive criminal background and the likelihood that Pruneda would commit other crimes that persuaded prosecutors to accept a probated sentence in exchange for the guilty plea in the 2002 child injury case.
“It’s a complicated situation,” Barton said. “We were relying on the guy’s character to get us some justice.”
Pruneda took the stand on his own behalf, testifying that he “found the Lord” since his incarceration Aug. 19, which illicted jeers from his victim’s family and a stern warning to the crowd by Prohl to be quiet.
“I am a new man, no matter what anybody says,” Pruneda said, in response to the jeers.
He admitted to having drug problems and anger management issues. He also admitted hitting his current wife in the face with his fist and to an altercation with a woman at a traffic light in Fredericksburg.
The defendant asked the court for reinstatement of his probation so that he could be with his wife and children and said his behavior was tied into stress brought on by Child Protective Service investigations.
But Prohl said Pruneda was “quick to blame CPS, quick to blame the probation department” and referred to the six convictions on the defendant’s record, including his guilty plea in the case where he “brutally injured” his daughter.
“And that was after taking a love and logic class,” Prohl said, before handing down the 35-year sentence.
Pruneda’s attorney, Charles King, said he did the best he could for his client.
“There’s no question my client had an anger management problem as was exhibited in open court,” he said. “I’m retained by the court to represent him. He has the same constitutional rights as anyone else. My job was to bring forth the favorable information on my client. He did do some things to comply with his probation. He had many urinalysis (drug) tests that were negative. I want what is best for everyone, including my client.”
King said he tried to remain calm during Friday’s chaos in the courtroom.
“We all need to respect the courtroom decorum,” he said. “That’s what I tried to do.”
Barton said the injured child is doing well now, and has recovered from her injuries.
“I’m real happy for the family’s closure,” he said.
Pruneda could serve at least half of his sentence before coming up before the parole board.
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