Three Failed Murder Prosecutions In Two Weeks Has Ogg’s Office Reeling

For a prosecutor who loves justice and winning, a murder case with these facts landing on your desk would feel like Santa Claus coming to town early: 

A sheriff’s deputy and body builder with six inches and over 100 pounds on his wife shot her twice during an argument over his alleged steroid use and infidelity. Despite fourteen years of law enforcement experience and 100 hours of firearms training, the man claimed that his wife shot him in the leg while wrestling over the weapon and then he accidentally shot her—twice. 

Unsurprisingly, as ABC News reported, Houston police detectives deemed the crime scene to be “inconsistent with an accident.” Moreover, a witness told police officers that the defendant said that one day his wife was going to “make him rise up like the Incredible Hulk” and it “ain’t gonna be good.” He also said that his wife would never get “his house.” 

An open and shut case, right? Not for Kim Ogg’s Harris County District Attorney’s Office. 

The first sign of distress was that the case took four years to bring to trial, as prosecutors dragged their feet to secure an indictment and then requested a continuance last December that pushed back the trial date. 

The second sign of distress came last week when, during deliberations in the case, jurors sent a note to the judge making clear that prosecutors failed to effectively communicate basic facts to jurors such as the timeline of the murder and the layout of the house where the man shot his wife. 

Ultimately, the jury returned a not guilty verdict, handing Kim Ogg’s Harris County District Attorney’s Office a stinging loss. 

Most District Attorney’s Offices would be ashamed to lose two murder cases at trial in a year. Yet, the “I accidently shot my wife twice” case was the second murder case that Kim Ogg’s office lost last week. 

The other murder case that Ogg’s office botched last week involved allegations of domestic violence spanning many years.

The Houston Police Department arrested a man for the murder of his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. According to the police report, the man showed up at his girlfriend’s apartment and “forcibly knocked and kicked at the door until [the new boyfriend] exited the apartment. [The man] then pulled a pistol and shot [the new boyfriend],” who was unarmed. According to the Houston Chronicle, police officers arrested the man after he “ran through the apartments, ditching a jacket in a shopping center dumpster” and then collided with officers at a nearby business. 

This wasn’t the first—or last—allegation that the man had committed an act of domestic violence. 

• Back when Ogg’s predecessor Devon Anderson was the Harris County District Attorney, the man entered a plea-agreement and confessed to assaulting his then girlfriend of two years. The victim told police officers that the man “pushed her to the ground,” “pulled her hair,” and “then held a gun in his hand and pointed it at her saying he’s going to shoot her.”

• Then, in 2019, the man was arrested on another domestic assault charge. This case involved the man’s then girlfriend of over two years, and according to police reports he allegedly “punched her in the face and nose multiple times,” and then “grabbed her by the neck ….  and with both hands [started] strangling her causing her to be unable to talk or breathe.” Police noted scratches on her face, neck, and hands; a bruise on her eye; a broken earring on her ear; and small spots of bleeding under the skin. Though it is said that a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich, Ogg’s office couldn’t convince—or didn’t really try to convince—the grand jury to indict the man in this domestic violence case. So they didn’t. 

• While out on bond in the murder case, the man was arrested again for aggravated assault on a family member after he allegedly “pulled a pistol” on his mother and “threatened to kill her.” 

Cutting to the chase, Ogg’s prosecutors lost this murder case at trial, too. Before returning a not guilty verdict, jurors sent a note indicating that they needed to be reminded of the basic facts of the case, which strongly indicated that the prosecution failed to present the case in a way that resonated with the jury. 

At least there is the aggravated assault case left to prosecute, right? Nope. Ogg’s office dismissed that case shortly before the murder trial, noting on the dismissal form that the state planned to use the facts of the aggravated assault case in the punishment phase of the murder case. Yet, because the jury returned a not guilty verdict in the case, there was no punishment phase and thus no punishment on either the murder charge or the aggravated assault charge. 

Two lost murder cases in a week is bad. Three lost murder cases in two weeks is worse. 

A man with a street name of “Loco” allegedly pulled out a gun while sitting in the backseat of a car and shot the woman driving the vehicle in the head from behind after confronting her about money she owed him. He then allegedly pointed the gun at the women in the front passenger seat and pulled the trigger twice. It didn’t fire. 

The woman jumped out of the car, flagged down help, and then told police officers that she has known the shooter since elementary school and was “1000%” positive he committed the murder. She then “immediately” picked the man out of a photo lineup and identified him as the shooter. “Loco” had previous convictions for assault, assault on a family member, drug possession, and credit card abuse. 

Kim Ogg’s office took five years to take this case to trial, and then–inexplicably—dismissed it at the last minute two weeks ago based on “insufficient evidence.” Earlier this year, Ogg’s office also dismissed a separate case against the same defendant. That case involved a charge that he assaulted a family member after he allegedly strangled his girlfriend.