2024 Meet the Lawyers - 4/14

Former day care worker sentenced for yanking baby by wrist

BY EMILY HILLEY-SIERZCHULA HERALD CORRESPONDENT

A Killeen woman who injured a child at a local day care while she worked there as an employee was sentenced last week to a term of probation.

On Thursday in the 264th Judicial District Court, 27-year-old Alexis Leshawn Powell was sentenced by Judge Paul LePak to two years of deferred adjudication probation, according to Bell County court records. Powell was indicted on Nov. 8, 2023, on a state jail felony charge of reckless injury to a child causing bodily injury. She pleaded guilty on Feb. 12. LePak also ordered that Powell complete parenting classes and attend a victim impact panel, court records show.

On June 14, 2023, Killeen police responded to a day care located in the city, where they spoke with a man who said that his 10-month-old daughter attended the day care. He told police that on June 13, 2023, the infant “had gone to daycare and came home at 5 p.m.,” according to an arrest affidavit. “(The infant) was fussy and had red marks on her left arm and was in pain so her parents brought her to the emergency room. She was diagnosed with left nursemaid elbow (a partial dislocation also known as “pulled elbow”) and had a torus fracture of (the) upper end of (her) left radius on her ar m. On June 14, 2023, (the father of the victim) went to the daycare facility and spoke with the owner and was able to see video that showed (the victim) getting picked up quickly, only by the left wrist, hoisted in the air and put down on the ground by daycare em-

ployee Powell. Upon seeing the video, the boss fired the suspect. (Powell) was scheduled to discuss her actions with officers and never appeared.”

ASSAULT WITH BOOTS

An unrelated case was decided last week in Bell County’s district courts. On Wednesday, Hugo Haroldo Reyes, 43, was sentenced by Judge Wade Faulkner in the 478th Judicial District Court to 11 years in prison. Reyes, who had been out of jail on bond, was taken into custody after the hearing. He was being held in the Bell County Jail on Friday with no bond listed on the second-degree felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Reyes was indicted by a Bell County grand jury on Jan. 25,

2023. He pleaded guilty on Jan. 19.

According to Killeen police, a pair of boots turned into a deadly weapon when Reyes injured a woman after stomping on her face, head and neck during an assault on Nov. 14, 2022.

Police were dispatched to the 3100 block of South Fort Hood Street in reference to a domestic disturbance. As officers were walking up to the residence, “they could hear an active disturbance inside the residence and attempted to (make) contact at the door of the residence but were unsuccessful,” according to an arrest affidavit. “While walking down the sidewalk leading to the front door, a woman appeared out of the bathroom window asking officers for help. (The woman) stated that she was unable to come do the door due to a male, later identified as Reyes, not allowing her to leave the bathroom.”

After officers helped the woman through the window and out of the building, they noticed injuries to her nose, forehead, arms and legs The woman told police that Reyes had been beating her for the past 30-45 minutes by “punching, kicking and stomping on her,” police said. The victim told hospital personnel that he was wearing boots when he stomped her. She incurred fractures to her upper back, perforated ear drums and bruising on her body

“The nurse advised a rock was found inside of (her) ear...(that) she believed came from Reyes’s boots as he stomped on her face, head and neck,” according to the affidavit. “(The woman) stated that she felt that Reyes was going to kill her.” Reyes was arrested at the scene

Democratic donors paid more than $1M for Biden’s legal bills for special counsel probe

BY ZEKE MILLER AP WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT

WASHINGTON — Democratic donors covered more than $1 million in legal fees racked up by attorneys representing President Joe Biden in a yearlong special counsel probe into his handling of classified documents.

The use of party funds to cover Biden’s legal bills is not without precedent and falls within the bounds of campaign finance law, but it could cloud Biden’s ability to continue to hammer for mer President Donald Trump over his far more extensive use of donor funds to cover his legal bills.

The for mer president has tapped more than $100 million in donor money for a web of legal challenges, ranging from his upcoming criminal trial in New York over hush money payments to ongoing prosecutions over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection and his refusal to turn over classified documents to the federal gover nment after leaving office.

For months, Biden aides and advisers have criticized Trump and Republicans for their spending on the for mer president’s legal issues, which has left the GOP campaign cash-strapped and diverted resources from battleground states “We are not spending money on legal bills or hawking gold sneakers,” Biden campaign finance chair Rufus Gifford told MSNBC last week.

The payments to Biden attorney Bob Bauer and the law firm Hemenway & Barnes were disclosed in regular campaign finance reports to the Federal Election Commission. Two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the payments, confirmed the money went for work on the Biden probe. Axios first reported on the payments.

Powell Reyes

Man who was part of Gangster Disciples now facing drug, gun charges in Heights

BY EMILY HILLEY-SIERZCHULA HERALD CORRESPONDENT

After serving a five-year federal sentence for possessing more than 500 grams of methamphetamine while a member of a Killeen street gang in 2018, a man now is under indictment in Bell County after police allegedly found a variety of illegal drugs and firearms during a narcotics operation earlier this year.

On Wednesday, Jomar Kenyatta Bush, 50, of Harker Heights was indicted by a Bell County grand jury on a first-degree felony charge of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance four grams or more but less than 200 grams and a third-degree felony charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. Bush was being held in the Bell County Jail on Thursday

with bonds totaling $105,000, on the two charges. Jail records show that he was booked on Feb. 3. On Jan. 31, at around 10:23 p.m., a Heights police officer “received information that a blue Honda Civic, license plate ending in 7629, left a residence in the 200 block of West Cardinal Drive where law enforcement was conducting surveillance for narcotics trafficking,” according to an arrest affidavit. The officer “located the Honda traveling in the 800 block of West Knight’s Way (in) Heights. (The officer) observed the driver of the Honda fail to reduce his speed 20 miles per hour below the posted speed limit as he passed utility trucks working on the power lines, a violation of...the Texas Transportation Code.”

ing a crystal-like substance fell to the found as Bush exited the vehicle.”

During a search of the Honda, officers said they located “another clear plastic baggie containing a large quantity of a crystal-like substance; several baggies of marijuana; psilocybin mushrooms; a baggie containing Xanax bars weighing 16.9 grams; and a small baggie of ecstasy pills weighing two grams,” according to the affidavit. “The crystal-like substances were tested with a reliable field test kit and the result was presumptively positive for methamphetamine that weighed 145.7 grams.”

found ... a shotgun near the front door, a stolen 9-mm handgun hidden in a bag of dog food, drug paraphernalia, a plastic baggie containing a crystal-like substance in Bush’s sock drawer and baggies of marijuana.”

Bush was among eight Killeenbased members of the street gang Gangster Disciples who were indicted by a federal grand jury on Aug. 14, 2018. Bush pleaded guilty on Nov. 27, 2018, to one count of “conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.” He was sentenced on Aug. 28, 2019, to 60 months in federal prison with credit for time served, according to court records. Bush is on supervised release until April 7, 2027.

Reaanna M. Gares, 37, of Harker Heights, on a charge of possession of a controlled substance one gram or more but less than four grams.

Brandon O. Harlee, 39, of Killeen, on a charge of possession of a controlled substance four grams or more but less than 200 grams

Angel V. Mercado, 47, of Killeen, on a charge of possession of a controlled substance four grams or more but less than 200 grams

• Bush

The officer said he “immediately smelled the odor of marijuana emitting from the vehicle as he made contact with the sole occupant driver, Bush,” police said. “A plastic baggie contain-

Following the arrest, other officers obtained a search warrant for Bush’s apartment in the 200 block of West Cardinal Lane “Officers found (a woman) inside the residence and served her with the search warrant,” according to an arrest affidavit. “Officers executed the search warrant on the residence and

OTHER INDICTMENTS

•

Travis E. Loudermilk, 45, of Killeen, on a charge of possession of a controlled substance one gram or more but less than four grams

Quiron A. Swift, 53, of Killeen, on a charge of failure to comply with a sex offender’s duty to register for life.

Charles D. Mann, 43, of Killeen, on one count of assault of a family or household member by choking and one count of assault of a family or household member with previous convictions.

• Gatesville, on a charge of possession of a controlled substance one gram or more but less than four grams

Jack L. Clearihue, 36, of

Terminally ill ask more states to legalize physician-assisted death

BY JESSE BEDAYN ASSOCIATED PRESS/REPORT FOR AMERICA

DENVER — On a brisk day at a restaurant outside Chicago, Deb Robertson sat with her teenage grandson to talk about her death. She’ll probably miss his high school graduation. She declined the extended

warranty on her car. Sometimes she wonders who will be at her funeral.

Those things don’t frighten her much.

The 65-year-old didn’t cry when she learned two months ago that the cancerous tumors in her liver were spreading, portending a tormented death.

But later, she received a call. A bill moving through the Illinois Legislature

to allow certain terminally ill patients to end their own lives with a doctor’s help had made progress

Then she cried.

“Medical-aid in dying is not me choosing to die,” she says she told her 17-yearold grandson. “I am going to die. But it is my way of having a little bit more control over what it looks like in the end.”

That same conversation is happening beside hospital beds and around dinner tables across the country, as Americans who are nearing life’s end negotiate the terms with themselves, their families and, now, state lawmakers

At least

12 states currently have bills

In Killeen baby rape case, Fort Worth man files for appeal

BY EMILY HILLEY-SIERZCHULA HERALD CORRESPONDENT

Less than a week after being sentenced in a Bell County courtroom to a 55-year prison term, a Fort Worth man filed an appeal of the judge’s ruling in a Killeen child rape and porn case.

On Feb. 29, in the 264th Judicial District Court, Judge Paul LePak sentenced Paul Perez Jr. to 55 years in state prison. The 55 years in state prison is to be served consecutively with a 20-year federal sentence handed down in 2019, when Perez was convicted of receiving child

DEATH

FROM PAGE A6

pornography

Prior to the sentencing hearing in February, Perez, 30, had pleaded guilty on Nov. 30, 2023, to a first-degree felony charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He admitted to participating in the rape of a 10-month-old baby on Jan. 1, 2017, in Killeen. Perez was being held without bond in the Bell County Jail on Wednesday APPEALS PROCESS

filed a notice of appeal with the Third Court of Appeals in Austin. A notice of appeal is the first step in the appellate process

The case was officially filed with the Third Court of Appeals on April 5, at which time it was given a docket number and schedule

According to the schedule, the clerk’s record and court reporter’s transcript are due to be filed by April 29.

determined to be indigent and unable to afford his own defense, according to Bell County court records

Following an altercation with Perez family members, Perez’s defense attor ney filed a motion to withdraw as his attor ney, which was approved by the judge

was used to create child por nography.

Christopher Almaguer, 32, who is Perez’s brother, and Christopher Almaguer’s wife, Sarah Almaguer, 32, were sentenced by LePak to 75 and 60 years in prison, respectively, after they each pleaded guilty to two child sex assaults.

On March 4, four days after the sentencing hearing, Perez

that would legalize physician-assisted death. Eight states and Washington, D.C., already allow it, but only for their own residents. Vermont and Oregon permit any qualifying American to travel to their state for the practice. Patients must be at least 18 years old, within six months of death and be assessed to ensure they are capable of making an informed decision.

Two states have gone in the opposite direction. Kansas has a bill to further criminalize those who help someone with their physician-assisted death. West Virginia is asking voters to enshrine its current ban into the state constitution. That patchwork of laws has left Ameri-

On Tuesday during a hearing in LePak’s courtroom, the judge signed an order to have an attorney appointed to help with his appeal because Perez was

cans in most states without recourse. Some patients choose to apply for residency in a state where it’s legal. Others take arduous trips in the late-stage throes of disease to die in unfamiliar places and beds, far from family, friends and pets. It was late at night when Rod Azama awoke to his wife crawling on the floor, screaming. Pain from her cancer had punched through the heavy morphine dose. “Let me die,” screamed his wife, Susan. As Rod rushed to hold her, the cries faded to repeated mumbles. “Heaven,” she said, again and again.

Susan, 68, pieced through her life’s belongings — family heirlooms, photos, an antique spinning wheel — touching the memories a final time. Then she decided where their next lives would be

She said goodbye to her constant sidekick, a small, fluffy Maltipoo named

The State of Texas is being represented by the office of State Prosecuting Attor ney Stacey M. Soule and Bell County Assistant District Attorney Brendan Guy Perez is one of three people sentenced for the same rape of an infant child, an incident that

Sunny. Rod packed the dog’s favorite toy, a stuffed bunny, as a reminder for Susan, who had to leave Sunny behind.

Then the two flew to Oregon. The issue is contentious. Opponents, including many religious groups and lawmakers, have moral objections with the very concept of someone ending their life. Even with safeguards in place, they argue, the decision could be made for the wrong reasons, including depression or pressure from family burdened by their caretaking.

“It’s normalizing suicide, and it’s incentivizing individuals to end their lives,” said Danielle Pimentel of Americans United for Life. Pimentel raised concerns that pain isn’t the top reason people choose an early departure, adding that policy should focus on bettering end-oflife care

Two national organizations lobbying

No appeals have been filed in those cases

The Almaguers’ state-level prison ter ms are to be served after the pair complete federal sentences of 60 years apiece amounting to 330 years of prison ter ms for all three defendants. Perez Jr.

for the bills argue it’s about autonomy and compassion, some power over one’s preordained exit.

“It comes down to the right of an individual to control their own end of life decisions free from government intervention or religious interference,” said Goeff Sugerman, national campaign strategist Death with Dignity.

Even though it’s illegal in most states, a 2018 Gallup poll showed more than twothirds of Americans support physicianassisted death.

Only a small fraction of Americans nationwide, about 8,700, have used physician-assisted death since Oregon became the first state to legalize it in 1997, according to the advocacy group Compassion & Choices. Most are cancer cases; others include heart and respiratory diseases A third of people prescribed the medications don’t end up using them.