Prosecutors this morning said Lucas Coe raped 4-year-old Emma Thompson shortly before her June 2009 death from abdominal trauma that included a severed pancreas.

"The defendant shoved an object or his male sexual organ into that poor child and ripped her apart," Assistant Harris County District Attorney Tina Ansari told jurors during her opening statements.

Shouting as she pointed at Coe, Ansari told jurors they would convict him of super-aggravated sexual assault of a child, "You will say to Lucas Coe, 'You did this! You are guilty! You are guilty! You are guilty!'"

Details.

[Interesting that prosecutors find it easier to prove a sexual offense than capital murder. And good that the punishment -- 25-life with no parole -- fits the crime.]