Jamie Lee Curtis shares open letter asking Texas DA to drop murder charges against alleged teen sex-trafficking victim

‘The Dallas district attorney plans to try this teen sex trafficking victim as an adult when she is still just a child’

Jamie Lee Curtis has penned an open letter defending a teen sex trafficking victim. (Getty Images)

Jamie Lee Curtis has written an open letter asking the Texas DA to drop murder charges against a teenager who claims to be the victim of sex trafficking.

Zephaniah Trevino, 17, is facing charges of capital murder, despite being one of three people allegedly present for the killing of 24-year-old Carlos Arajeni-Arriaza Morillo. 

Trevino, who was 16 at the time, maintains that she had been purchased by Arajeni-Arriaza Morillo for trafficking purposes. Though she did not pull the trigger in his fatal shooting, she is accused of being part of a "robbery gone wrong" and is due to face a jury in January.

On Sunday, Curtis shared a letter on her Instagram defending Trevino and pleading with the Texas District Attorney's office to drop the charges.

Lawyers for Philip Aguilera Baldenegro, who is accused of pulling the trigger in the fatal shooting, argue that the charges of sex trafficking are false accusations intended to create sympathy for Trevino.

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"I'm an actress, author, and advocate for children, but most important of all, I'm a mother," Curtis wrote in The Dallas News.

"How is it possible that a 16-year-old girl, a victim of sex trafficking and sexual violence who was an innocent bystander in a crime, could possibly be held accountable for that crime? That is the brutal truth happening to Zephi Trevino today. The Dallas district attorney plans to try this teen sex trafficking victim as an adult when she is still just a child."

“Hearing her story pierced my mother's heart and I am writing this as a way to help Zephi's own mother, Crystal, fight to free her daughter.

“As a mother of two children, I am outraged. Our criminal justice system must be better than this. All the DA has to do is drop the charges against this innocent girl. She didn't hold a gun. She didn't create the scenario. She was being sold for sex. And now, after being abused and victimised by her trafficker, she's being victimised again – this time by the legal system that should be protecting her.”

"Please join us to help put pressure on the DA. No family should have to endure this," Curtis concluded.    

Kim Kardashian West has also advocated for Trevino's innocence, urging her followers to sign a petition last July.

The petition has garnered nearly 350,000 signatures and a fund set up for Trevino's legal defense has raised nearly $100,000.

The case's prosecution wants to try Trevino as an adult and have offered a plea deal of 10 years in prison. The defense, meanwhile, has asked for 10 years probation with all charges of capital murder dropped.