AUSTIN, TX – Texas is supposed to be one of the last bastions of conservatism, law and order, and protecting victims. And it may actually be that, just not in Travis County.
What many consider to be the most progressive liberal place in the Lone Star State has a habit of placing bad actors before their victims.
Police say that in 2019, LaShonda Lemons was beaten so badly she had to be hospitalized. She was 32 weeks pregnant at the time. Three days after the attack, her unborn child was pronounced dead. The cause of death was blunt force trauma.
The man behind the beating was Johnny Charles Ebbs, V. He just so happened to be the victim’s boyfriend.
According to an arrest warrant, the two were involved in a verbal argument when Ebbs punched Lemons in the stomach. He is alleged to have said:
“F— you and this baby! You aren’t going anywhere!”
Now, three years later, Ebbs has been walking the streets a free man since he bonded out after his arrest. Now, thanks to progressives in the legal system in Travis County, he will remain free.
How is that possible? Here is what we know.
On October 17th, Ebbs agreed to a plea deal with the District Attorney’s office. That deal saw him plead guilty to a third-degree continuous family violence assault charge. In exchange, through DA recommendation, the court sentenced him to 8 years of deferred adjudication.
In other words, if Ebbs does not violate the terms of his probation, in October of 2030, the original charge will be dismissed.
For those unfamiliar with deferred adjudication, it is when a person pleads guilty or no contest to a charge, and there is no finding of guilt at the time of sentencing. Instead, the Court places that person on community supervision (probation) for a specified period, and if the community supervision is completed successfully, then the charge originally pleaded to is dismissed.
That is according to the Law Office of Will Mitchell.
An additional term of his plea deal requires that Ebbs wear a GPS monitor for the next six months.
Assuming he stays clean for the next 8 years, it is almost as though it never happened.
But he may already be in more hot water.
According to Lemons’ attorney Kelsey McKay, Ebbs was required to surrender his guns to authorities as part of his original bond and a protective order issued after his arrest.
McKay says that he has yet to go through with that surrender.
“We have firearm surrender laws. We have domestic violence laws. But if there’s not enforcement and implementation of those laws, they’re relatively useless,” she said.
“Despite multiple requests, suggestions, and outright demands, to this day, there has not been any meaningful enforcement or efforts made to physically secure the perpetrator’s firearms as required by law. Ms. Lemons already lost her child. She should not have to continue to be forced to risk her life.”
But the Travis County DA, as part of his plea agreement, made him swear under oath that he does not have any guns and that he will not live in a home with guns in it.
Coni Huntsman Stogner is a domestic abuse advocate. She spoke with Austin’s KXAN.
“We’re very concerned that the sentencing does not result in safety for the survivor and the community.”
Lemons bravely faced and addressed Ebbs directly in court with her witness impact statement, saying in part:
“You were also the first person to hold me at gunpoint. The first person to strangle me.”
We can only hope that there hasn’t been subsequent people doing the same to her.
The SAFE Alliance also spoke out about the plea bargain that allows Ebbs to stay a free man.
“What is clear is that there is work to be done. We are grateful to Ms. Lemons for her powerful example and hope that the community receives the message that we stand with survivors. We will persist in this work to better serve and protect people who experience violence and abuse.”
Police: While out on bond on domestic violence charge, man violently abused his 1-year-old daughter
MOBILE, AL – Niktoria Lett left the house on Sunday without her 1-year-old daughter Royalty, who stayed home with her dad. When she returned a short while later, sher found her daughter’s face “all messed up.”
“I get in the apartment and my whole, my, my baby face is just messed up,” Lett said according to Fox 17. “Her whole head, her left shoulder is just like ooh!”
Now, the baby’s father, 23-year-old Eugene Lamont Sneed, is in custody, charged with aggravated child abuse. He is being held in the Metro jail.
He is scheduled to appear in court on October 17th.
Soft on crime!
Madness has no boundaries!Eugene Lamont Sneed, 23, was out on bond in relation to a 2020 domestic violence charge when he allegedly poured the boiling hot water down the throat of his 1 year old daughter! pic.twitter.com/is1rOrHpGY
— Ronald Kelly (@RonK3l) October 9, 2022
Here is what we know.
The baby ingested boiling hot water. But it was not a case of the child accidentally drinking something.
According to police, Sneed poured the scalding water down her throat.
Lett said that her daughter is fighting for her life.
“I couldn’t even stand to look at her. I couldn’t even keep calm. I couldn’t even maintain my body for real. So, we rushed her to the hospital, and from there, her injuries just started worsening,” Lett said.
“Her lungs critical, everything critical. That’s how they know it was done purposely. They said it was an intentional thing that he did. Justice for Royalty! That’s all we want.”
Sadly, this is not Sneed’s first run-in with police. His criminal history has many people wondering why he was on the street to have committed this crime to begin with.
Turns out that Sneed is not being held without bond on this case. His bond was actually revoked on a previous domestic violence charge.
In 2018, then 19-year-old Sneed was charged with third-degree domestic violence. In 2020, he was charged with first-degree domestic violence. In 2021, he was arrested again on a domestic violence charge.
The case that he bonded out on is frightening.
Prosecutors allege that Sneed fired shots at his ex-girlfriend and mother of his children. His kids were with her at the time of the attack.
He is slated for trial on that charge October 24, 2022.
The details in those two other cases are not known.
What is obvious and out in the open is that Sneed has a propensity for being a repeat offender.
Now, Mobile’s Public Safety Director, Lawrence Battiste, is speaking out against the bail reform crisis that has swept the nation over the past few years.
“People are entitled to bond but there are those instances where a person has shown propensities to continue to their violent or negative behavior and in those situations, we need to have at our disposal the ability to hold them accountable by keeping them in jail until their trial date,” said Battiste.
The Director indicated that Aniah’s Law will be on the ballot in Alabama next month. That law would address this very aspect. It gives judges the ability to deny bond to violent offenders, keeping them in jail rather than on the streets to continue committing more crimes.
That law is named after an Alabama teen, Aniah Blanchard. She was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by a man that was out on bond for a previous kidnapping.
Young woman killed in double shooting believed to have been killed by boyfriend while he was out on bond
HARRIS COUNTY, TX – Family, and friends are grieving the loss of an 18-year-old college student who was gunned down in a double shooting on August 29th.
The man whom police believe killed the woman was her boyfriend who was out on bond at the time of the killing.
Update to scene on Backenberry: the victims have been identified as sisters, Redha Sayed (18) and Mahenoor Sayed (20). Redha was confirmed deceased at the scene and Mahenoor remains hospitalized in serious condition. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the family. #HouNews https://t.co/HAUOd1XNVn
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) August 30, 2022
The incident was first reported to Harris County Deputies as a shooting in progress around 7:30 p.m. reported to be in the area of the 4700 block of Backenberry.
When deputies arrived on the scene, they discovered two persons had been shot, Redha Sayed and her sister Mahenoor, “Noor,” Sayed.
Sadly, Redha was pronounced dead at the scene while Noor was rushed to a nearby hospital. According to family members, Noor was shot in the neck and is expected to recover, however, they have been told to expect a lengthy recovery process.
Harris County Detectives began working on the case and learned that the two young women had met with Redha’s boyfriend, Walker Porretto, before the shooting. The investigation lead detectives to believe that the three had some type of argument over alleged inappropriate comments that Porretto had said to Noor.
A nearby resident spoke to KPRC 2’s Cathy Hernandez about what they saw before the shooting. That unnamed person said:
“I see a young lady get out of a vehicle. She walks up to the car, and she opens the door and she’s having conversation with whoever is in the driver’s side of that car. It appeared to me that they knew each other, and they were having a small argument.”
Detectives believe when the two women were arguing with Porretto over the comments, for reasons still unknown, Porretto retrieved a firearm arm and began firing. Porretto fled the scene after killing Redha and injuring Noor.
Detectives began their search for Porretto and were able to locate him on August 30th around 7 a.m. in the parking lot of a Willis grocery store in Montgomery County.
As deputies moved in to arrest him, he allegedly shot himself. Deputies rushed in to provide first aid and he was sent to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Redha had just started going to college and was working as a pharmacy technician at the time of the shooting. Noor had her real estate license and was beginning to embark on the market as a career.
Instead of being able to celebrate the two women’s success, family and friends are forced to mourn for Redha and pray that everything turns out okay for Noor as she fights to recover from an injury caused by a man that should have stayed behind bars.
Porretto was out on bond at the time of the shooting for several felony charges, including gun possession.
According to Harris County court records, Porretto was arrested and criminally charged in June of this year for felony drug possession and unlawful carrying of a firearm.
When he was arrested, Harris County deputies allege that he had 56 grams of methamphetamine, a scale, and money that was assumed to be from the sale of the narcotics.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez is one of many law enforcement officials to have spoken out in the past about persons who are out on bond and go out and re-offend. In June, the Sheriff said:
“People who [are out] on multiple bonds, that’s inexcusable in my opinion…Crime is out of control and there’s a revolving door with bail. I get it. We have a broken system.”
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