Former Houston officer sentenced to 6 years jail for coercing prostitute into sex

A former Houston police officer was convicted, then sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for raping two prostitutes while on duty. 26 year old Demetrie Trevail Dixon, 26 was convicted by a Harris county jury on two counts of sex assault Tuesday, May 3, 2011. The conviction stems from charges that two prostitutes had been coerced into performing oral sex by Dixon while he was on duty.

Dixon was sworn in as an HPD officer in January 2009. He was arrested June 4 and terminated after an internal investigation Jan. 7 [2011].The north Houston division patrol officer was charged last year with four felony counts of sexual assault and two misdemeanor counts of official oppression.

Internal affairs investigators said Dixon stalked several women while on duty then took them to a secluded area to strip-search them. Prosecutors said he raped two of the women twice over a three-month period. After more than a week of trial and about two hours of deliberating, Dixon was sentenced for raping one of the women twice.

While Harris County Prosecutor Prosecutor Matthew Peneguy asked for the maximum of 20 years behind bars for "using the badge to coerce" sex, Dixon's defense attorney said "We don't need to warehouse this guy, he needs help," but the jury disagreed.

Dixon sill faces sexual assault charges for raping the other prostitute, and faces two misdemeanor allegations that he forced two other women, one of them an undercover police officer, to submit to strip searches under threat of jail. 

Northwest Houston serial rapist sentenced to life with parole possibility in 30 years

By CINDY GEORGE HOUSTON CHRONICLE
March 4, 2011, 5:18AM

A Houston man charged with five rapes and a murder in the Acres Homes neighborhood received a life sentence with the possibility of parole on Thursday. The same jury found LaMarques Devon McWilliams, 35, guilty last Friday of one aggravated sexual assault — a first-degree felony. The other rape charges were dismissed. He will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years in prison, according to his lawyer, Jacquelyn Carpenter.

McWilliams is accused of raping a woman who has pleaded guilty to prostitution three times in Harris County in the past two years, according to public records. The woman, who is not being named by the Houston Chronicle, testified during the guilt-innocence part of the trial.

After McWilliams was convicted on the single aggravated sexual assault charge, the prosecution presented DNA evidence that linked him to several other women, who testified during the penalty phase of the trial that they were raped by McWilliams.

McWilliams was arrested in August 2009 on two counts of aggravated sexual assault. A month later, he was charged with three more rapes and the death of Pamela Ann Goss, whose body was found in the Acres Homes area in 2006. McWilliams still faces a murder charge.

Carpenter said most of the women who testified this week worked as prostitutes.

"DNA shows evidence of sexual activity but it doesn't necessarily mean that the sexual activity was rape," the defense lawyer said. "If there were any sex, I believe it was consensual."

McWilliams did not testify, but has maintained his innocence. His lawyers have filed a notice of appeal.

Carpenter contends that her client was identified by police for political expediency as a way to calm fears about a rash of rapes and killings.

"They've been looking for someone for years," she said. "This was about showing the black community that we care that something is happening in (Acres Homes)."

A prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney's Office could not be reached for comment.

Acres Homes residents and local activists became alarmed by the possibility of a serial killer or serial rapist in the northwest Harris County community after several bodies were found along roadsides, ditches and empty lots beginning in 2006. During the same time, there were dozens of sexual assault reports in the area. The investigation became one of the largest in the history of the Houston Police Department, which formed a special task force and devoted what was described as unprecedented resources to chase leads.

That probe resulted in multiple arrests, but charges were filed against McWilliams and Bilford Dwight Junious, 40, who was accused of nine sexual assaults in Acres Homes over seven years. He was convicted on one rape charge in 2009 and sentenced to 40 years in prison. The other charges were dismissed.

cindy.george@chron.com

Houston man held without bond for sexually mutilating wife

A career criminal was charged with the torture of his 33 year old "wife" and held without bond. Gregory Longoria Jr, 39, was charged with aggravated assault of a family member for holding his estranged wife against her will and torturing her between noon Wednesday, February 16 and 7 AM February 17. 

The 33 year old victim left Longoria and moved back to her parents' house along with her four children to escape the abusive relationship and allegations of cheating. Wednesday, Longoria went to the victim's parnets' house and threatened her with violence if she did not bring the one year old girl she had with him. She left with him and went back to Longoria's apartment.

The victim told investigators Longoria threatened to kill her elderly, disabled parents if she didn’t comply with his demands.The victim said once they arrived at Longoria’s apartment, he told her to undress and took sexually explicit and obscene photos of her.

When he was finished with the camera, the victim told investigators Longoria tied her to the bed and beat her. She said he then used a can of hairspray and a lighter to burn her nipples and vagina. After he burned her, the victim said he ripped one of her nipples off her body.

The victim said Longoria also choked her with a belt and smothered her with a pillow, causing her to lose consciousness. Longoria kept her there from noon Wednesday until 7 a.m. Thursday, deputies said. He then dropped her and the baby off at her parents’ house.

Longoria let her go after she convinced him that she had to go to a job interview that Thursday and that they needed the money. Longoria told her to take a shower and dropped her off at her parents house. Longoria took his daughter and drove around Houston until he was stopped Thursday evening. The victim was driven to Kingwood Medical Center.

Investigators observed burns to the woman's body consistent with her description of what happened. A doctor at Kingwood Medical Center told investigators that the woman will require reconstructive surgery and will suffer permanent disfigurement as a result of the attack, court records show.

During a press conference, Longoria was likened to a mad dog by Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia. "There are rabid dogs in our society — animals. These dogs that think they can get away with dehumanizing any person, but in particular women, will be dealt with. We are proving today that we will hunt those dogs down and put them in their kennels and try to show them the same dignity that they failed to show for a fellow human being...God help me if such an animal were ever to introduce himself to my family."

While the baby was physically unharmed, Lt. Ruben Diaz of the Houston sex crimes unit said "He had the baby asleep on the couch in the next room, probably listening to her own mother's screams for help." After Longoria's arrest Thursday afternoon, Diaz said  "He didn’t even care that we picked him up. When we picked him up, he had a curt attitude. He had a smirk on his face like he didn’t care." The reason the situation lasted so long was because "She was protecting her family more so even than herself - she was tolerating the abuse."

The victim's mother told reporters "At times, I saw her she would just look teary-eyed. I would advise couples not to be quiet but be up front because that’s how a lot of women die."

The emergency protective order prohibits all contact with his victim, including indirect contact or showing up at her workplace. The same no contact conditions were imposed regarding the victim's four children and her parents. Prosecutor Donna Hawkins with the Harris County District Attorney's Office said the order "precludes the defendant from having any contact with the complainant in this case, not going by her residence and not attending her work place either." 

Longoria is charged with a first degree felony "because of three elements: he assaulted a member of his family causing serious bodily injury and utilizing a deadly weapon, which in this case is fire," according to Hawkins.

According to a family member, the victim, who was released from Kingwood Medical Center Monday,  is actually comforting her family members. "We have all been crying, when we come up to her, she just looks at us and says, ‘why are you crying? I am fine, I am strong, if I’m not crying you should not be crying...She is very hopeful about the future. She trusts a lot in God...She's not going to let this person take her down - she's way stronger than that."
 
Longoria has a history of arrests in Harris County dating back to 1989, including convictions for shooting two men, court files show.

In 2005, Longoria was charged with misdemeanor assault of a family member after he was accused of choking another woman identified as his wife with his hands, court records show. A court issued an emergency protection order, and Longoria pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 160 days in jail.

In 1992, he pleaded guilty to an attempted murder, two charges of aggravated assault and felony theft. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the aggravated assault and theft convictions and granted 10 years probation and deferred adjudication for the attempted murder conviction, court records show.

In September 1991, when Longoria was 20 years old, Bellaire police arrested him for shooting a 21-year-old man four times. Longoria was a passenger in a moving vehicle when he fired the shots, court records show. That man survived, and the incident led to Longoria's conviction for attempted murder.

A month later, Longoria was arrested again, this time for shooting a 20-year-old community college student. That victim also survived.

Longoria has not been formally arraigned yet because arraignment requires a public defender. Numerous public defenders have refused to take him on as a client due to the nature of the charges and allegetions against him. A lawyer is scheduled to be appointed later today.

Katy, TX man sentenced to 48 years with half to serve for point-blank shooting murder of wife

A Katy, TX man was sentenced to 48 years imprisonment Monday, September 20 for the point-blank shooting murder of his wife. Michael Wayne Cantu, a petrochemical engineer, will be eligible for parole after serving half of his sentence. Cantu was tried in Texas 400th District Court under Presiding Judge Clifford J. Vacek.

Cantu reported his wife of 15 years, Jackie Ramirez Cantu, shot herself at their home in the 26300 block of Eden Point on April 24, 2008.

He said during the initial police investigation that he and his 37-year-old wife got into an argument while looking at family photos and reported that his wife then went into the master bathroom and shot herself in the forehead with a .38-caliber revolver.

The couple's two children, now 11 and 9, were in the house at the time but were asleep, [Defense attorney Wendell]Odom said.

Changing statements about the manner of the woman's death led police to charge Cantu with murder. Cantu first told police that he was in the kitchen when his wife committed suicide, then changed his story to claim he was in the bathroom. Cantu later told detectives that he move the gun from the bathroom floor, where it was pointed towards the victim's neck. Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office officials eventually ruled Jackie Cantu's death a homicide.

During the trial, Fort Bend County prosecutor Chad Bridges successfully argued that the changing statements, along with ballistics showing gunpowder residue on Michael's hands and a bruise where he pressed the gun up against Jackie's forehead before firing, constituted evidence of murder. According to Bridges, the forehead bruise was "a tight contact wound, which is inconsistent with trying to pull the firearm away." Jackie tried to defend herself before the father of her two children killed her.

As for the nature of the argument, Bridges said "As for what exactly happened that night and what they were arguing about, we don't know," Bridges said. "We don't know what the exact nature of the conversation was."  About the jury, he said, "We recognize the juror’s personal sacrifice to see that justice is done. It was a long trial of terrible circumstances and intense emotions.  It’s never pleasant but always necessary

The Cantus met while both of them were attending Texas A&M University. Jackie Cantu was originally from Bryan, while Michael Cantu was from Houston. They married in 1992. Both graduated from Texas A&M with Jackie Cantu earning a degree in microbiology, said her father, Guillermo Ramirez of Bryan.
 
"I wish this thing would have never happened to my daughter, to the family. There's a lot of sadness. The only justice that would satisfy me is if my daughter came back and if I could turn back time and prevent this from happening. But I can't."
 
Odom said this about his client after the sentencing. "He's always maintained that it was an accident, that he was trying to take the gun away from her.He's realizing that his life will never be the same — that he'll probably spend the rest of his adult life in the penitentiary. He vows that someday he'll be exonerated."
 
The Cantu children, the true victims of this crime, are being cared for by both sets of grandparents.

Man who dropped into house, stabbed estranged wife to death sentenced to life without parole

On Friday, September 17, a Ft. Worth, TX man who stabbed his estranged wife to death in front of his 8 year old twin boys, named after him, was sentenced to life without parole by State District Judge Mike Thomas. 41-year-old Alma Garcia was stabbed to death by her husband, 42 year old Abel Noe Dominguez, on March 8, 2009. Dominguez broke into his wife's house and stabbed her between 11 PM and 10 AM, according to the testimony of his two oldest children, earning him a capital murder charge, which is applied to murder committed in the course of another felony, in this case, burglary.

[Noely] Dominguez, 17, said she spent most of the day [March 7, 2009] at South Hills High School practicing track and cheerleading.

She said her brothers, Abel and Noe, were at a neighbor’s house while their mother and Janette [Jaimes, 20 year old]were at a birthday party. After returning home about 10 p.m., Dominguez said she picked up her brothers and went back to their house, where the boys watched television in their mother’s room. Dominguez said she watched TV in her own room.

About 11 p.m., when she looked out the window after her dog began barking, Dominguez said she saw a ladder leaned up against the house. Several hours after she went to sleep, she heard her mother and Janette come home but she went back to sleep, she said.

Prosecutors contend that Dominguez broke into the home and waited for Garcia. Defense attorneys say that Dominguez walked through the front door of a house that he shared with Garcia.

Nohely Dominguez said she and Janette were awakened about 11 a.m. by her brothers screaming, “Wake up, I think Mommy’s dead.” When she hesitantly went into her mother’s room, where the boys had been sleeping, Dominguez found “blood everywhere” and her mother['s] body. “We tried shaking her but she was dead,” she said.

During closing arguments,  prosecutors Alana Minton and Kimberly D'Avignon argued that the break-in was burglary because the victim's sister owned the home and the victim kicked her husband out during a violent argument two weeks before her murder. While defense attorneys Wes Ball and Santiago Salinas argued it was Dominguez' home because he made mortgage payments for 15 years, Minton said that the way he entered - climbing onto the roof, dropping through a hole in his sons' room, then lying in wait to stab him victim 19 times, made it murder committed during a burglary.

The burglary specification was significant because in Texas, jurors can convict defendants of capital murder, which carried life without parole or the death penalty, if the homicide is committed during the course of another felony. In Texas, burglary is defined as breaking into someone's home without permission to commit another felony. If not, the homicide becomes simple murder, punishable by 5 to 99 years with one-third to serve. Tarrant County jurors found Dominguez guilty of capital murder after three hours of deliberation over two days.

During the victim impact statement, made after sentencing, Patricia Rodriguez, the homeowner and sister of the victim, said that the children They not only lost their mother. They lost their father. They still have nightmares and cry themselves to sleep because what you’ve done.”

"Shotgun Bandit" sentenced to life for rape, attempted murder of woman

A suburban Dallas-Ft Worth man was sentenced to life for the rapes of two women Thursday, September 16. Stanley Vernell Ledbetter Jr., a Muscogee, OK native and a Plano, TX resident, was sentenced to life for aggravated sexual assault in a April 10, 2007 sexual attack. Jurors took half an hour to convict Ledbetter of aggravated sexual assault and another 20 minutes to assess him the maximum sentence - life with a $10,000 fine.

Testimony opened on September 15 with the then 29 year old's account of the attack.

The woman, who is not being named because she is a sexual assault victim, told jurors she was in her pajamas watching television about 2 a.m. when the glass on her patio door exploded.  "I screamed," she said. "I saw a dark figure coming through the door right at me."


The man, holding a short-barreled shotgun, dragged her by her hair to the bedroom. She testified he made her dump out her purse and turn over hundreds of dollars in cash she had earned from her waitress job. He also forced her to give up her debit card and the personal identification number.
He made her stay in the bathtub as he searched the place. What he was looking for, she didn't know, she told jurors. Then the attacker took her to her bedroom, where he forced her to perform a sex act. If she didn't, he threatened to blow her head off, she testified.
The attacker used zip ties to bind her hands behind her and laid her on the bed. He stuffed a sock into her mouth and held it there with duct tape. Then he covered her face with a pillow and stabbed her three times.
"I couldn't believe this was happening," she said. "The pain was unreal."

The woman said she played dead as he checked her wrist for a pulse. She rolled her eyes back as he lifted each lid to check for signs of life. He removed the sock and duct tape. She said she heard her front door open and then close. She waited about five minutes and then went to her kitchen to try to cut the ties with a knife. When she couldn't free herself, she went to get help.

She met her attacker at the front door. "You didn't think I wouldn't see the kitchen light come on?" she recalled him asking. There was a struggle. She told jurors he pushed her down and stabbed her two more times. He locked the door behind him as he left.

The woman said she lay there for 30 to 45 minutes "to make sure he was gone."

During the trial, Ledbetter's defense attorney attempted to introduce reasonable doubt by sugessting that his client wasn't the one who stabbed the victim. The defense conceded the DNA evidence proved Ledbetter raped the victim. The only defense witness, Denise Ledbetter, was the attacker's mom. She portrayed her son as a devoted son and asked jurors to give him less than life so "That I have more time with my son."

The 2007 attack victim's impact statement followed the penalty phase of the trial, and went like this. "No matter how much pain and anguish you caused, not once would I let you get the best of me. I will never let you steal my strength or my perseverance. ... I'm the reason you were caught. I got you. ... May you rot in jail for life."

During the punishment phase of the trial, jurors got a clearer picture of Ledbetter, known before his arrest as the shotgun bandit because of his choice of weapon in some of the crimes.


A former Garland woman testified about a man breaking into her home through the patio door on June 1, 2005. He forced her to drive to two automated teller machines and withdraw $500 while he sat in the back seat of her Jaguar with a sawed-off shotgun jabbed in her side. "I was petrified," she told jurors.

A former Southern Methodist University student testified under a pseudonym about a man dressed in black and wielding a shotgun who broke into the Dallas apartment she shared with a friend on June 4, 2005. Both were sexually assaulted. A DNA expert testified that trace evidence from the Jaguar's back seat and the Dallas attack matched Ledbetter's DNA.
A 41-year-old woman testified about being sexually assaulted by Ledbetter on Nov. 7, 2005, at her Plano apartment. Several details matched the other attacks.

Prosecutor JoDee Neil told jurors: "There is no why," she said. "This is evil, plain and straight."

First Assistant District Attorney Greg Davis said Ledbetter deserved the maximum of life without parole
"so that no other woman will have to look at Stanley Ledbetter again and fear for her life."
 
Ledbetter, known as the "Shotgun Bandit," was already serving two life sentences on similar criminal convictions. Ledbetter is suspected in attacks on 7 women that took place between May 2005 and April 2007, and is suspected in at least 19 home invasions. The presiding judge was State District Judge Webb Biard. The convictions, from Dallas County, are under appeal.

Juarez serial rapist caught - sentenced to 60 years imprisonment

(Original Post 4-9-09)

An El Paso, TX man has been captured by Juarez, Mexico police after allegedly going across the border and raping females between 13 and 20. The rapes took places between 8 and 10 PM, and always Tuesdays and Fridays in neighborhoods near the Rio Grande. The 1st known assault happened April 4, 2008; the last assault was April 3, 2009. Jorge Alberto Mendez Navarro, 43, has been officially charged with the rape of a 17 yera old girl March 24, but suspected in 18 other gunpoint rapes.

Mendez, who allegedly used a handgun, in some cases forced his way into a victim's home and claimed to be a hit man. He allegedly told women not to tell anyone or he would kill them, officials said. There were up to three victims in some assaults. On occasion, Mendez was allegedly nude wearing only black gloves and a tan panty- hose with eye-holes on his head during the attacks. Investigators said Mendez allegedly told one girl that he wasn't from Juárez.

The break in the case came after Mendez broke into two 19 year old women's homes, but was scared off by the victims' relative. The relative took down Mendez's license plate number, and Chihuahua State investigators arrested Mendez when he crossed the border in his 1997 Chevy Tahoe. Clothing, porn, and a Kia sedan were also seized.

Juarez is infamous for its drug related shootings due to the narcotics trade. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was the scene of hundereds of femicides (killings of women). Most of these killings are still unsolved.

(Update 7-22-10) Last week, after a two week trial in a Chihuahua, Mexico courtroom, Mendez was sentenced to 60 years imprisonment and an over 60,000 peso fine for the rapes of the girls and young women. Mendez was found guilty of aggravated rape, rape, child pornography, and sexual abuse.

El Paso, TX woman gets light sentence for killing husband with knife

An El Paso, TX woman will only be in jail for a little under 2 months after her conviction of criminally negligent homicide in the stabbing death of her husband. Judge Bonnie Rangel sentenced the woman to 2 years after jurors acquitted her of murder and manslaughter on Friday. The killer, 25 year old Leslie Alvarado, was convicted of stabbing to death 32 year old Leopoldo Mosqueda, who bled to death after being attacked on November 4, 2007.

Both the prosecution and defense attorney accepted that Alvarado stabbed her husband in the arm intentionally. However, there were differences in their arguments about why the killing happened. The trial, presided over by 171st District Court Judge Bonnie Rangel, began Monday with closing arguments on Thursday.

During his closing argument Thursday, [defense attorney Ruben]Hernandez said that Alvarado stabbed her husband in self-defense.He argued that Leopoldo Mosqueda had tried to rape her the night he died. If Alvarado had wanted to kill Mosqueda, she would have stabbed him in a vital organ and not in the arm, he said.

But Assistant District Attorney Scott Ferguson argued that Alvarado purposely selected a large knife for the attack. Ferguson took the knife that killed Mosqueda and stabbed the air in front of the jury during his closing argument. "When you stab someone like this in the arm, two or three times, you know at the very least that she's intending to cause death or serious bodily injury," he said.

Ferguson also argued that a taped jail conversation of Alvarado showed that she had a motive for killing her husband because she had a relationship with a woman.

On Wednesday, April 21, prosecutors brought up an August 2003 incident in which Alvarado allegedly hit her husband with a bat, but the victim dropped charges. Dr. Timothy Proctor reviewed the records of both the victim and defendant, with the records showing that Alverado had been abused regularly, and Mosqueda was diagnosed as bipolar. "It was a very chaotic relationship, and what I saw was mutual aggression," Proctor said.

After Judge Rangel's sentencing, the victim's sister, Maria Teresa Mosqueda, said that despite the strained relationship with her brother, "I can never forgive you. Never." Hernandez told reporters "I think we're still happy with the result because it wasn't a murder. She didn't plan it, and she didn't want that result."

Judge Rangel sentenced Alvarado to 2 years for aggravated assault for attacking Vickie Dobson at a mall, causing head injuries.The aggravated assault sentence will be served concurrently with the homicide charges.

Criminal with history of violence sentenced to life for killing 18 year old wife

A "man" who shot his bride in the face, killing her, was sentenced to life in prison for the crime. 26 year old Charles Reese was sentenced by District Judge Lori Valenzuela Thursday, March 12 after a jury convicted him the previous day of murder of 18 year old Shamika Sanford. Though they had been married less than a month, but according to her grandmother, Margaret Sanford, had a history of domestic violence.

Reese told police the two had been fighting and after he ordered her to get in the car on March 10, 2009, she refused and began walking away. After shooting her in the chest, knocking her to the ground, he said he emptied his clip into her head because he “didn't want her to live through life knowing the person she loved shot her.”

Reese was at large for 4 days, and according to officials, confessed to numerous people that he killed his wife. Besides the gunshot would to the head, Sanford suffered wounds to her face, chest, and neck and hands. He did not testify at the trial, but gave a videotaped statement of his innocence.

Defense attorneys Michael Hoyle and Charles Bunk asked jurors to give Reese 25 years in prison, saying he grew up in an abusive environment, with both of his parents serving prison terms for drug offenses and an uncle going to prison for killing his wife.

“What is it children crave?” Hoyle asked. “They want love and attention from others. He didn't get it ...That 25 years of need, frustration, anger and rage comes out through that gun. ... It doesn't make it any less horrible. But it explains why it happened.”

Prosecutor Yvonne Gonzalez and co-counsel Daryl Harris argued that the "grusomeness" of the crime and need for accountability warranted a life sentence. “Shanika was the first time a woman demanded his love, his fidelity, his commitment. When he realized he couldn't give it, he took her life in the most brutal way any of us could imagine.”

"Wife" sentenced to 5 years probation for murder-for-hire plot

A woman who was accused of soliciting the murder of her now ex-husband got off with 5 years of deferred adjudication and an no contact order for the victim and their three children. Catherine Shamp was sentenced Wednesday morning in a Houston courtroom. Catherine Shamp could have received 99 years in prison.

The Shamps' bizarre story started in November, when a confidential informant -- later identified as Nathan Blake, the ex-boyfriend of the Shamps' daughter, 18-year-old Ashley Shamp -- contacted Texas' Harris County Sheriff's Office and said Catherine Shamp had asked him to kill David Shamp, police said.

The sheriff's homicide department equipped Blake with recording devices before he met again with Catherine Shamp. That conversation was recorded. "The CI [Blake] recorded Catherine Shamp stating she wanted her husband murdered and would be willing to pay the 'hit man' approximately $20,000," the sheriff's office said in a statement in December.

Armed with the recording, police arrested Catherine Shamp in late November. Two days later, police arrested Ashley Shamp for allegedly being involved in the plot, but she was later released.

Ashley said that while her mother talked about getting rid of the victim, she believed that it was a joke. "She pulled me into the spare bedroom and said sort of laughing, 'Hey, I bought these pills, let's put them in your dad's beer,' and I was like, 'Why would you do that?'"

The victim was shocked to learn about the plot, believing that it was a prank at first, but his disbelief turned to devastation after police showed him recordings of his wife soliciting the hitman. David had spent Thanksgiving with the perp's parents, and there seemed to be no problems in the Shamp marriage.

The reason why Catherine did not get prison was because Harris County Assistant District Attorney Kari Allen said that the victim wanted it. "From the very beginning, he stated he did not want his wife, the mother of his children, to be put away," she said. In the courtroom, David said, "I just want to say to her the pain she gave this family, not just me, her parents, my parents." That pain included losing their home and a car.

Outside the courtroom, he said, "I have to [forgive] because I'm raising three children and if I keep that anger bottled up inside of me, then I'm going to take that home and my children are going to feed off of that anger."

Dallas County prison guard under investigation for having inmate dance seductively for her

A Dallas County prison guard is under investigation for fraternizing with inmates for having a 20 year old male inmate dance seductively for her. The allegeations allege that Officer Kytrina Lewis had an inmate (and high school classmate, Gregory Miller of Dallas, lap dance for her to music playing from a CD player she brought into the institution. Lewis, a 15 month veteran, resigned December 9 for the incident, which took place December 1. A second claim is that Miller recieved Lewis' personal cell phone with her picture.

Officer Jerkeitha Hawkins wrote that Lewis was sitting down, facing Miller when "He was moving his hips in a circular slow motion and motioning his body in a sexually erotic way as if he were a male dancer [stripper]." Hawkins wrote that Miller's inner thigh touched  Lewis' legs. She watcher Lewis because Miller was "hanging out at the desk all night ... listening to music, playing different CDs and talking on the officer's work phone." He allegedly heated Lewis' food and brought her a drink of water.

A second inmate, 36 year old Tevis Mayes, was leafing through CD's. "They switched the CD, and the party continued on well after the supervisors left," Hawkins wrote.

In the south tower, the Suzanne Kays jail, officers are stationed behind a desk, where they can directly observe inmates in each housing pod. Inmates are not separated into individual cells, but function in an open space where bunks also are located.

Miller and another inmate were seen by other guards hanging around Lewis' desk all night listening to music from a CD player she brought into the housing pod, according to sheriff's reports. At one point, Miller heated Lewis' food and brought her water.

A 2006 Sheriff's Department policy bans the use of personal electronic devices, including cellphones, in secure areas of the jail.

Lewis admitted bringing the CD player into the jail and having Miller dance for her.  "I asked Miller one day could he still dance like in school," she said. "He stated yes, and on that particular day, he did dance seductively behind my desk...He did not straddle me, but he did dance seductively behind my desk. I played a song on the CD player, and he danced. Yes that was inappropriate, but I wasn't thinking and I did know that it was wrong for me to have the CD player."

Miller claimed to have only met Lewis the month before the incident, and to have never met her before then. The incident is still under investigation.

Wife killer sentenced to life without parole in Waco, TX

A Waco man was sentenced to life without parole for the hammer bashing death of his wife, 33 year old Rosario Moreno, on May 11 in front of her children, now 5 and 8. A week before, a judge gave the victim and her kids a temporary restraining order ordering the perp, 29 year old Robert Chavira Espinosa, to stay away from her and her children. The restraining order was based on two assaults in April 2009. Espinoza pled guilty to a count of capital murder yesterday in exchange for not facing the death penalty. State District Judge Ralph Strother accepted his guilty plea after the defendant was told that he'd spend the rest of his life in prison.

Before 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother accepted Espinosa’s guilty plea Tuesday, he asked Espinosa whether he understood that the plea would result in him dying in prison. Espinosa responded, “Yes, sir.”

McLennan County prosecutor Edward Vallejo said the district attorney’s office offered the plea deal after carefully weighing all facets of the crime. That included Espinosa’s background and the “traumatic damage” the trial would have caused his children, who were the only witnesses to the crime.

“This plea was fully and extensively discussed with and agreed to by Rosario Moreno’s family members, who continue to be in our thoughts and prayers,” Vallejo said.

Espinosa’s defense lawyer, Waco attorney Russ Hunt, said Espinosa had “a number of mental health issues.” However, he was legally sane at the time of the offense, he said. Espinosa’s actions were partly fueled by his drinking too much alcohol the night of the murder, Hunt said."I have no doubt Robert wishes he hadn’t done this,” Hunt said. “But wishing can’t change this.”

Gladys Moreno, a 19-year-old cousin, walked Espinosa through the days and weeks after the attack. She talked about the family’s daily trips to Temple to see Moreno in the hospital, how the doctors showed them photos of her brain bulging out of her skull and the agonizing decision to take her off life support.

Gladys Moreno also talked about how the family struggled with whether to let Moreno’s children see her in the hospital and how traumatizing it was for them once they were allowed to visit. Moreno had always loved her hair, but because of the attack, her head had to be shaved and was covered in stitches, she said.

“You don’t see them, the questions they ask us, the stuff they’re going through,” Gladys Moreno told Espinosa, referring to the children.

The victim's sister, Elena Moreno said that though she plans to raise her niece and nephew, “the love I can give them will never be nearly as much as the love my sister could have given them.” Then she had words for her sister's killer. She said the children will learn to hate their father, though the family used to think he was a good person. The victim's sister also said that Espinosa deserved to die. “The pain that you’ve left us with will never leave. Why did you sink to such a crime that’s so bad we cannot find a name for it?”
 
Though the family asked the killer why he killed their cousin and sister, they never got a straight ansewr. The only answer recieved from Espinosa was “I don’t know why.”

Estranged husband sentence to life without parole for rape-slaying of wife

A Kansas man who raped, then smothered his estranged wife to death was sentenced to life without parole Thursday. Jerome Overstreet, 52, was sentenced after six hours of jury deliberation in the murder of his 51 year old wife Vicki, who he met while he was serving time in prison. Vicki was found dead in her Euless, TX apartment on November 12, 2007 after her grown son hadn't heard from her. The grown son, Lamont Webb, and Vicki's parents came to the trial from Kansas.

Although witnesses testified that Jerome Overstreet physically abused his wife during their 11-year marriage, he had visited her several times in Euless and had made another trip there to reconcile with her the weekend she died. Authorities believe that Jerome Overstreet killed her because she changed her mind about reconciling.

Questioned about his wife’s murder, Jerome Overstreet denied even being in Euless the weekend she died, Foran said.

But investigators obtained cellphone records, a Kroger surveillance tape and store receipts placing the defendant within a mile of his wife’s apartment shortly after she was last seen, Foran said.

Forensic experts also matched carpet fibers, glitter and beads found in a vacuum canister in Jerome Overstreet’s Wichita home to carpet from his wife’s apartment and glitter and beads from her clothing, he said.

And DNA experts matched Jerome Overstreet’s semen to that found on the carpet in his wife’s apartment, Foran said.

According to Steven King, Jerome's lawyer, the DNA evidence could be explained by the attempted reconciliation of the victim and the suspect. Because prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty, the only possible sentence was life without parole, introduced by Texas in 2006.

Wife shoots husband to death after argument

By CINDY GEORGE HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Sept. 5, 2009, 11:31AM

Criminal charges are pending against a Houston woman police say admitted to fatally shooting her husband.

According to Houston police, Cesar Barrera and his wife got into an argument around 9:25 p.m. Friday at the couple's home in the 10700 block of Lumber Ridge Trail.

“At some point, the wife goes into a closet and retrieves the husband's handgun and shoots him while he's in bed,” Houston Police Department spokesman Victor Senties said.

The woman remained at the southeast Houston home until police arrived.
“She pretty much admits to her involvement in this deal,” Senties said.
The wife's name has not been released because she has not been formally charged, Senties said.

Barrera, 28, was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Azle, TX high school teacher faces sex charges for sex with 18 year old - sentenced to prison, probation

(Original Post 11-16-08)
A female private school teacher is accused of having a sexual relationship with an 18 year old studnet, and a second suspected relationship with a 17 year old. Julianna Sauls, a married 38 year old algebra teacher at Azle Christian School in Azle, TX, is facing a charge of improper relationship between teacher and student.

The 18 year old alleged victim and his father stated the sexual contact began at schol in September, when Sauls began to grope him both under and over his clothes, and forced him to touch her breast and make out with him before she would let him leave her classroom. All of these incidents occurred in isolation.

[The victim] showed investigators a pink note with Sauls’ home address and phone number, which he said the married mother of two had given him "so he could come to her home and have sex with her while her children were asleep," the affidavit states.

After setting up a meeting with Sauls in the parking lot of Azle High, where she agreed not to try anything sexual, a "normal" conversation turned into Sauls complaning about sexual inadequacies with her husband, and led to her performing oral sex with the 18 year old. The victim wanted to stop seeing Sauls because she was his teacher, and wasn't attractive to him.

"After the first few seconds of what was going on, he regained his composure enough to realize this was not proper," Azle Police Chief Steve Myers said.

"Prior to him leaving, [Sauls] told the victim to 'trust her’ and that all the other boys trusted her," the affidavit stated, leading investigators to believe that other students may have been involved.

After that incident, Sauls pulled down her lower hip to show a tattoo, and they both went to a Ft. Worth tattoo shop to get matching tattoos. Sauls also called and texted the victim, and sent an e-mail "which showed that she wanted to talk to the victim, was thinking about him and gave him instructions to delete her telephone number after they talk on the phone." A police investigation started October 28, and Sauls was arrested Wednesday, but released on bail. Sauls was dismissed from her job due to "lack of work," and faces both Tarrant and Parker County charges.

Normally, the age of consent in Texas is 17, but a 2003 law states teachers cannot have consensual relationships with high school students.

While police were interviewing other students about the teacher, a 17-year-old student disclosed that Sauls had also had sexual contact with him in recent months outside his residence in unincorporated Parker County, Azle authorities said.

"My understanding is it occurred in the student’s driveway late one night," Azle police Lt. Lee Blaisdell said. "I believe the student’s mother pulled in the driveway and found the teacher parked in the driveway with her son. At the time, they were denying that anything had happened."

Azle police gave the 17-year-old’s statement to Parker County sheriff’s officials, who are now investigating that case and another incident involving the 18-year-old student that may have occurred in their jurisdiction.

"I know there’s more victims out there but they’re not coming forward out of fear, retaliation and embarrassment," Azle police Detective Richard Martinez said. "I wish they would come forward. They’re the victims. They didn’t do anything wrong."

Sauls' teaching certificate is valid through September 2013, according to records, and Martinez chided those who saw no harm in an 18 year old with his teacher, stating that "the point is parents pay good money to send their child to get a good education. They didn’t send their child to be a victim and be assaulted."

(Update 12-7-08) Sauls was formally charged with two more counts of the same crime regarding both the 17 year and 18 year old victims in Parker County. She was released on $60,000 bail December 3.

(Update 6-9-09) After a plea deal, Sauls was sentenced to 6 months in jail and a 9 1/2 month suspended sentence for 2 counts of improper relationship between an educator and a student. 43rd District Judge Don Chrestman imposed the sentence. According to Parker County Assistant District Attorney Jeff Swain, other punishment includes 10 years of probation, 400 hours of community service, a $4000 fine, sex offender treatment, and a ban from all junior high and high school aged youths, including the victims.

District Judge Sharen Wilson also sentenced Sauls in Tarrant County to 5 years probation, 240 hours of community service, 6 months in jail, to be served after release from prison in the Parker County case, and a mental health evaluation. The victim involved in the Tarrant county case is one of the victims in the Parker County indictments.

French national living in Dallas metroplex gets 45 years for deliberate infection with HIV

A Frisco, TX man of French origin was sentenced to 45 years in prison yesterday for deliberately infecting 6 women with HIV. The sentences, 45 years in 5 cases and 25 years in the remaining case, will run concurrently. Earlier this week, Philippe Padieu was convicted by a jury of 6 counts of assault with a deadly weapon - his penis - for refusing to disclose that he had full blown AIDS.

One juror, who asked not to be identified, cried as she hugged a victim. The trial had been helpful to her, she told the woman, because, "I have a daughter that's 19 and I don't tell her a lot of things. "It just takes one time to destroy your life," she said shaking her head.

Another juror stated that they had to remove themselves emotionally from the testimony, finding that Padieu was guilty of aggravated assault. The 45 year sentence was a compromise between prosecutors that wanted life and the defense, who wanted 20 years.

One victim, who remained anonymous, stated that she wishes that she could kill herself because of the stigma surrounding AIDS.

"I consider suicide, because it would be so much easier. It's a battle every single day....If I had cancer, I could tell people - I could tell them without fear or embarrassment or shame."

"I wish you no harm," she said, "And I pray that I can forgive. And I pray for a cure for us all.'"

Another victim "thanked" Padieu for "introducing me to a group of 10 incredibly beautiful, brave women who had the guts to stand up here and tell the world their most embarrassing moments to make sure you were stopped. I still wonder why you did this, but I'm not going to let it consume me. Our friendship will last long after you're gone."

Padieu's attorney, Bennie House, said the sentence was "better than life," but he didn't call it a victory.

House said he felt Padieu should not have been prosecuted in the first place because, unlike some other states, Texas does not have an "HIV law" specifically criminalizing the intentional spreading of the sexually transmitted disease. Prosecuting Padieu for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon "absolutely opens the door for any STD prosecution," or even diseases such as swine flu, he said.

Padieu will have to serve 50%, or 22 1/2 years, before being eligible for parole.

This editorial explains why Padieu's victims are just as much victims as a person who gets shot.

Montague County, TX ex-sheriff pleads guilty to sexual coercion of inmate

Tursday, January 29, saw former Montague County Sheriff Bill Keating's official downfall. He is now officially a federal felon, and for the 1st time in almost 40 years, is a private citizen. However the disgrace that comes from having to give up a lifelong career pales to that he'll face as a federal prisoner folling his May 1 scheduled sentencing. That's when Keating faces a maximum 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for violating a female inmate's civil rights by sexually coercing her.

In November, Keating and his deputies found traces of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia at the home of a man whom they were arresting on a warrant. The former sheriff threatened to take the man's girlfriend to jail as well, unless she had sex with him. Authorities say he then drove her to a rural road and forced her to perform oral sex on him.

He also demanded sex from her on other occasions, court documents show, and forced her to agree to be a Montague County sheriff's department informant.

"I have a feeling that this sort of thing is more widespread than we know," said federal prosecutor Rick Calvert. "We want this to be an eye-opener for individuals who hold positions of public trust. Even if you are the elected sheriff, that doesn't mean you are above the law."

The Montague County DA Jack McGaughey expects to hand state indictments to Keating and some of his employees in the next two weeksalleging that they had sex with inmates and allowed contraband to get into the lockup. McGaughey's office called in the FBI and Texas Rangers after tips about official misconduct at the lockup. Recliners were found in some cells, along with pills. Current Sheriff Paul Cunningham had to transfer prisoners to surrounding lockups due to inoperable fire and security systems.

Keating was formerly the city manager of Watauga and for a time served as the city's police chief. He started his career in Fort Worth in 1969. After Watauga, he became a constable in Montague County before being elected sheriff in 2004. He was defeated in last year's March primary but continued to serve until Cunningham took office January 1.

Austin teacher charged with sexual encounters with 18 year old student

(Original Post 5-16-08)

Allen Cole, a 34 year old teacher at Travis High School in Austin, was arrested on charges of having sex with an 18 year old girl. Another student reported the relationship.

According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by KXAN.com, the student told police she had met Cole, 34, several times at his apartment between May 6 and May 10. The student told police she had sex with Cole more than 20 times over that 5-day period.

Police confirmed the girl's details of Cole's living room and bedroom. He's charged with improper relationship between a teacher and a student, a class 2 felony in Texas.

(Update 12-26-08) 10 days ago, Cole was sentenced to 4 years on probation, 200 hours of community service, a $1000 fine, and a permanent ban from teaching in any state or contacting his victim. The info is via Assistant District Attorney Allison Benesch.

San Antonio teacher caught with his pants down

Paul D. Roberts, 42, was arrested and charged with an improper relationship between teacher and student. Roberts, who taught in San Antonio. TX at Jefferson High School, was caught after a male student saw him and a 18 year old female student engaged in sexual activity. The teacher told the male student to leave, but he came back with a custodian. The relationship, which started with flirting, escalated to touching, then sexual activity which occured around 3 PM in Roberts' classroom. The charge is a 2nd degree Texas felony, punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison.

Nurse sentenced to life for murder for hire of husband

GATESVILLE, Texas — A prison nurse convicted in a plot to kill her ex-husband with the help of her boyfriend and teenage son has been sentenced to life in prison.

Leslie Megan Lewis-Grant was given the maximum punishment Saturday in the September 2007 death of James Michael Grant Sr., who was stabbed in his sleep before his son stomped on his chest.

John Tarrell Hopkins, the boyfriend who pleaded guilty to killing Grant, testified that Lewis-Grant thanked him repeatedly and said it was the nicest thing anyone ever did for her.
Jamie Grant, her 16-year-old son, pleaded guilty earlier this year to murder and is serving a 45-year sentence.

Lewis-Grant had told jurors she was abused repeatedly during her 13-year marriage. But the 44-year-old, who was convicted of murder, said she wasn't involved in the killing.