PUBLIC SAFETY WAS DISREGARDED WHEN BOND WAS GRANTED TO A PROVEN VIOLENT THUG CHARRGED WITH CAPITAL MURDER

Whatever possessed Harris County District Judge Robert Jonson to grant bond to a dangerous thug like Horace Marquese Harris, 20, who was under arrest on a capital murder charge and had already been convicted of assaulting two peace officers?

By Howie Katz

Big Jolly Times
July 8, 2019



Horace Marquese Harris, 20, is not a nice young man. Just look at his record:

• In December 2016, Harris was charged with assault on a public servant in Hidalgo County.

• In March 2017, Harris pleaded guilty and got six years of probation.

• In October 2017, Harris was charged with capital murder.

• In November 2017, his probation was revoked.

• In April 2019, Harris was sentenced to two years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for assault on a peace officer. He had already served 589 days in jail.

• In May 2019, he was sent to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

• In June 2019, he was released from prison.

Add to that the pistol-whipping and carjacking of a woman less than a month later.

Harris and Marqui Lamon Davis, 20, pistol-whipped and carjacked Manuela Mora in northwest Houston after the mother of six got home from work around 1:40 am on July2. Each was armed with a gun and urged the other to shoot Mora.

Harris and Davis drove off in the Jeep Cherokee but the police were able to locate it because it had a GPS tracker. During a 10-mile long chase, two Houston police cars crashed into each other, sending one careening into a used car dealership and damaging at least four other vehicles. The chase came to a stop when Harris and Davis crashed into a tree.

Harris jumped out of the Jeep after the crash but tripped and fell. He was pinned down by the cops just as he started to reach in his right front pocket where the police found a pistol.

Davis, the driver, was found hiding under a horse trailer by a K9 who bit him (ferociously I hope). He had a pistol that had been stolen in a burglary.

Houston Police Officers Union President Joe Gamaldi tweeted, “Suspect who pistol whipped/car jacked innocent woman, then lead officers on high speed chase was out on bond for Capital Murder. DAs office, based on his history Agg Robbery/Assault Public Servant, and threat he posed to public requested No Bond, but Judge R. Johnson gave him 1 anyway.”

HPD Chief Art Acevedo said, “One was a capital murder suspect free on bond to victimize us and the other has two prior robbery convictions. Our community deserves better than revolving door justice for violent criminals who are being let out on personal bonds, low bonds and are being given deferred probation when they have repeatedly shown an absolute disregard for the law.”

Harris had been charged with capital murder for the deadly shooting of Melton McGee on Oct. 23, 2017. McGee was shot in the head while sitting in his SUV at an apartment complex in Atascocita. Just eight months earlier Harris had been released on probation from Hidalgo County for beating up two peace officers who were guards at the juvenile detention center where he was being held.

At first the Harris County DA’s office had requested that no bail be granted for Harris, but prosecutors soon accepted District Judge Robert Johnson’s decision to set bail. Judge Johnson, a black Democrat, granted the dangerous black thug a $100,000 bond even though court records showed he had violated his probation and then parole for assaulting the two juvenile detention center guards. Harris posted bond on the capital murder charge in November 2018.

While a $100,000 bond may seem rather high, it is actually far from that. Both Judge Johnson and DA Kim Ogg knew very well it would take only 10 percent of that to make bail and that someone might raise the $10,000 for that dangerous thug’s release.

And shame on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. If Harris was given credit for the 589 days already served in jail, he still had 141 days left on his 2-year sentence. And yet, the authorities released him on parole after only one month in prison when he should never have been paroled with a capital murder charge hanging over his head.

McGee's stepbrother James Cox slammed Judge Johnson, saying “For you to release somebody from jail on capital murder and put him back into society, you obviously don't really care.” McGee’s mother added, “Because if he's letting them out, you never know when you're going to come across them. I know this lady [Mora], she didn't know she was going to come into contact with someone who killed someone and has a long record, and is still walking around.”

Public safety gets flushed down the toilet when a person charged with capital murder who has a prior record of assaulting peace officers is granted bail.