Posted on 06/17/2006 4:14:34 AM PDT by cbkaty
Harris County prosecutors decided to file aggravated robbery charges in a deadly carjacking because the evidence did not show the attackers intended to kill a little girl, a key element for a murder charge, officials said.
"It doesn't sound like a serious enough charge — maybe that is what people's perception is," said Di Glaeser, chief of the major offender and special crimes unit of the Harris County District Attorney's Office. "I think, that if these people are guilty, they should receive the most serious punishment and that would be aggravated robbery."
Charged with aggravated robbery were Bakari Holland, 18; Koty Holmes, 19, and Rashard Renfro, 23. Holland also was charged with injury to a child. All three remain in custody in the Harris County jail without bail.
The three are accused of robbing Luis Garcia at gunpoint at a car wash in the 8300 block of Jensen late Tuesday night. When Garcia said he had little money, two of the gunmen forced his wife and four children from his Chevrolet Suburban. Garcia's 23-month-old daughter, Stephanie, was killed when she was run over as the robbers made their getaway.
Though the toddler was killed in the commission of a crime, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said, a capital murder charge would have been hard to prove.
"It would be very difficult to make a capital murder case that we could prosecute because it would require proving the specific intent to kill," he said.
Rosenthal said he had his best prosecutors working on the case and that "if they could have done something more serious they would have."
Glaeser said a capital murder charge would have required evidence showing the suspects set out to kill the toddler, but the evidence available did not sustain that charge.
"There are fewer elements to prove in an aggravated robbery and the same evidence would come out regardless of the charge during the trial, and so it is in our opinion a wiser decision to charge these three individuals with aggravated robbery," she said.
Aggravated robbery, like murder, is a first-degree felony. They carry the same punishment.
The three arrested have admitted they were involved in the robbery, said homicide investigator Darrell Robertson.
Robertson said the three also are under investigation for other robberies in the area, including one that was committed after the carjacking.
'Just a crime spree' "It seems to have been just a crime spree," he said. "They're riding around and picking what they believe is the weak and the easy pickings as they would put it."
The last three days have been exhausting for the Garcia family as they've tried to come to terms with the loss, made arrangements to bury their daughter in Mexico and learned of the arrests.
Garcia said he wanted justice for his daughter's death, but the news of the arrests offered little relief because it would not bring her back.
"What can I say? Nothing, only that God help them," Garcia said.
The arrests stemmed from tips made to Crime Stoppers, including one that placed the three and the vehicle in the area. On Thursday, Holland and Renfro were arrested at their homes and Holmes was arrested near his home.
Though Garcia told police he had been robbed by two men, most of the tips referred to three men. Robertson said the third suspect apparently was the getaway driver, but was as involved in the planning and commission of the robberies as the other two.
Police suspect the three were involved in several robberies in northeast Houston. Robertson said all three lived on the northwest side.
"At this time there are several robberies that we are looking at in and around the northeast and north area that we believe that these three are responsible for," Robertson said.
Driver confessed, police say Also, he said all three knew at some point that the toddler had been run over. He said Holland was charged with injury to a child because he confessed to driving the vehicle when the child was struck and killed.
He said Holland and Renfro were longtime friends, having known each other since middle school and that Holmes had recently joined them. None of the three were employed, he said.
"They didn't really do a lot of anything," Robertson said, "except hang around and plan out some crimes."
armando.villafranca@chron.com
I believe what freedoms we have would be evn fewer under a totally monolithic gov't.
That is why I also oppose combined city/county,so called unigov areas like Indianapolis.
AT least with multiple agencies they can have turf wars and there is the possibility of one or the other actually helping the citizen.
What A Country!
I'd also add: Then what's up with a negligent homicide charge? How can it be?
THEN charge them with BOTH...
ping
"Lilly livered local prosecuters"
Harris County sends more people to Death row than any County in the United States. (By far)
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