DORCHESTER, Neb. (AP) — A man found guilty of first-degree sexual assault of a child in 2014 has been granted a new trial by the Nebraska Court of Appeals.

The appeals court said 36-year-old Raymundo Perez-Cruz’s trial court judge abused his discretion by denying Perez-Cruz a jury trial because he waived it while trying to work out a plea agreement.

Prosecutors argued that Perez-Cruz grabbed a 13-year-old girl and put her in the backseat of his car before driving her to a lake near Crete, where prosecutors say the girl said he forced himself on her.

Perez-Cruz had been sentenced to 25 to 40 years in prison last year. The conviction and sentence have been reversed and the case will go back to Lancaster County District Court.