http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4217355.html

Sept. 27, 2006, 1:34AM
Man accused of killing officer 'got scared'
Quintero sorry for policeman's family, expects death sentence


By ROSANNA RUIZ
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Juan Leonardo Quintero said Tuesday that he "got scared" during his encounter with a Houston police officer last week, and he expects to be sentenced to death.

The 32-year-old Mexican native said from a Harris County jail that he couldn't explain what happened after officer Rodney Johnson pulled him over Thursday near Hobby Airport.

After placing Quintero in the back seat of his cruiser, Johnson was shot four times in the head. Police say Quintero gave "a full confession."

On Tuesday, the suspect would not admit to shooting the officer.

"I got scared," said a sullen Quintero, who has been charged with capital murder. "It's about a week, and I can't figure it out."

During the interview, he offered advice to other illegal immigrants, saying they should never drive without a license, as he was doing. When asked whether he was afraid at the time he was pulled over of being deported and losing his family, he shrugged, shook his head and offered the same explanation: "I got scared."

Quintero declined to provide details about the incident, but he offered his sympathies to Johnson's family.

The officer is survived by his wife, Joslyn, and five children between 14 and 19.

"I'm sorry for that family," said Quintero, who was handcuffed behind his back. "They're missing a father, and my kids are missing a father."

Quintero's wife, Theresa, said last week that she was mystified by her husband's actions, and she offered the theory that he may have been suicidal when he left their home with her gun.

But Quintero, who is on suicide watch inside the jail, insisted that he could not take his own life.

He said he wanted his wife and two stepchildren to know he's sorry.

"Tell the kids to be strong and keep going to school," he said.

This is not the first time Quintero has been charged with a crime. In 1998, he was charged with indecency with a child and the next year was given deferred adjudication, a form of probation, in the case.

Quintero said the accusations made against him by a 12-year-old girl were false.

The accuser, now a 20-year-old woman living in Odessa, said Tuesday that she never knew what became of Quintero and wasn't even sure of his name until last week, when she learned of the charge against him.

At the time of the incident, July 1, 1998, Quintero lived with his wife and two stepdaughters in the same Pasadena apartment complex as the girl.

While playing with his stepdaughters, she said, an intoxicated Quintero grabbed her breast three times. She later told her mother what happened, she said.

Defendants who successfully complete the terms of deferred adjudication avoid conviction, but the fact that they were charged stays on their record.

Quintero agreed to the deferred adjudication, and he was deported as a result of his plea. His criminal record also includes driving while intoxicated and driving with a suspended license.

Robert Swofford, his attorney in the indecency case, remembers that Quintero said he tickled the girl and that, if he touched her inappropriately, he could not remember. Court records show that Quintero told police he had consumed 18 beers that day.

Swofford said he also was unaware that his former client was accused in the officer's shooting.

He said Quintero's boss, who owns a landscaping company, told him at the time that Quintero was one of his most trustful employees and he was looking forward to getting him back to work. Documents show that his boss bailed Quintero out of jail.

rosanna.ruiz@chron.com