HOUSTON, Texas — A Texas district court judge reduced the bond for a man charged with Capital Murder to $9,000. The suspect is out of jail after paying a $900 fee to the bondsman, according to Houston Crime Stoppers.
180th Criminal District Court Judge DaSean Jones lowered the bond for accused murderer Eric Todd Semien from $50,000 to $9,000, Fox 26 Houston’s Randy Wallace reported. Seiman’s bond had been reduced two other times and in both cases, the bonds were revoked for breaking bond conditions.
Semien is accused of murdering Javier Moreno and Rober Pantoja in May 2016. Three others are charged in connection with the murders.
“They killed two people, and they also put a gun to a young mother with a 2-month-old, they put a gun to her head as well,” Houston Crime Stoppers Andy Kahn told Fox 26.
In 2017, Semien walked out of jail after posting a $150,000 bond but ended up back in jail four months later after violating the conditions of his bond, Wallace reported.
“They (the court) reinstate the bond, but they lower the bond to $50,000,” Kahan explained. “Normally when you get your bond revoked, they raise the amount. But this one went dramatically down.”
Semien ended back up in jail again after being convicted for evading arrest. That court sentenced him to 60 days in county jail.
Judge Jones then lowered his bond yet again. This time to $9,000.
“I have never in my life seen a bond that low for capital murder,” Kahn stated. “I’ve never seen a bond that low for murder.”
Houston businessman, attorney, and columnist Bill King said he has never seen anything like this.
“Capital murder is one of the clear exceptions in Texas law that you can completely deny bond,” King stated. “A $9,000 bond, you pay the bondsman $900. So for $900 he was able to get out and is roaming around the city of Houston right now.”
Judge DaSean Jones, a Democrat, took the bench of the 180th Criminal District Court in January 2019. He is currently on the November general election ballot in Harris County. Jones faces Republican challenger Tami Pierce. Jones was not opposed in the 2022 Democrat Primary election in March.
Fox 26 sent a news crew to Semien’s apartment in northwest Harris County to try and get a comment.
“Judging by the eviction notice on the door and all the stuff outside, Eric Semien is long gone,” Wallace reported.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face
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