The following press release was received from the 63rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
The 63rd Judicial District Court last week sentenced Casey Joe Harris, 32, of Brackettville, to 12 and 6 years sentences, to run concurrently, for two charges of Delivery of Methamphetamine in 2019.
Harris had originally entered a plea of Not Guilty to four “buy-walk” drug transactions, and a jury trial commenced on August 24, 2021 to all of the cases together.
The Honorable Enrique Fernandez was assigned to hear the case because the Honorable Rolande Andrade formerly worked the cases as a prosecutor and was unable to sit as judge.
The Kinney County Civic Center was full of attendees appearing by summons for the jury panel selection. Even though a panel was selected and impaneled, the case was delayed because of COVID issues that arose after evidence presentation paused for lunch the following day.
The case was reset, and the same jury returned to the Kinney County Courthouse on September 7, 2021 to finish the trial. After evidence was closed that same day, the jury deliberated for three hours, and returned guilty verdicts on two of the delivery of meth cases, one being a Second- Degree Felony and one being a First-Degree Felony.
District Attorney Suzanne West presented the guilt/innocence phase to the jury and the sentencing to the judge. During the punishment phase, West pushed for prison time, noting lengthy criminal history of the defendant, including serving time for Delivery of Marijuana mere months before selling the meth that was the subject of these cases. West noted that this defendant had received decades of attempts at rehabilitation, and at this point it was time to give the community a reprieve from his criminal activity.
For the time being, the defendant will remain in local facilities, because he has additional pending cases.
The 63rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office prosecutes felony crimes in Val Verde, Terrell, and Kinney Counties. This was the first jury trial for 2021, and more trials in Kinney and Val Verde County are scheduled for October, November, and early December in the 63rd and 83rd District Courts.
