Thread: HPD officer's killer linked to attempted prison break

HPD officer's killer linked to attempted prison break
By PAIGE HEWITT
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
Jan. 30, 2010, 1:34PM

A man who murdered a Houston police officer was among five inmates who tried to escape a maximum security prison in Livingston after a church service Friday night.

Three of the inmates were shot by Polunsky prison tower guards and remain hospitalized. Perimeter tower officers using AR 15 rifles fired a total of 11 rounds and a patrol officer on the ground fired one round from a 12-gauge shotgun.

Juan Quintero - convicted in the 2006 death of officer Rodney Johnson - was not shot in the escape attempt, but he and all the others sustained lacerations from the razor wire atop a fence they scaled, said Jason Clark, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman.

Quintero's capital murder conviction in 2008 drew shock from Johnson's wife Joslyn Johnson, also a police officer, because jurors did not sentence Quintero to death but gave him life in prison. The case ignited debate over police policy on checking the immigration status of defendants and the death penalty. Quintero is an illegal immigrant.

Quintero, who shot the officer from the back seat of a patrol car, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

John Jordan, who prosecuted Quintero, was relieved to learn tower guards had prevented him from making it over the fence to freedom.

"Until Juan Quintero takes his last breath, he will be a threat to the community," Jordan said. "I've no doubt he would have killed somebody if he would have gotten out. It's a good thing officers stopped him."

Quintero and one of the other inmates were treated for their cuts and sent back to the Polunsky unit.

The men left a worship service around 9 p.m., scaled an interior fence and were trying to scale a perimeter fence when guards opened fire.

All five of the inmates face charges of attempted escape, and their security classification is likely to change, affecting their housing privileges, Clark said.

Death row inmates are housed at Polunsky, but the inmates trying to break out were from the prison's general population.

Another inmate linked to the escape was Albin Zelaya-Zelaya, serving a life sentence from Harris County for burglary with intent to commit a felony. When Harris County prosecutors were prosecuting Zelaya-Zelaya, they identified him as a native of Honduras and an MS-13 gang member..

The other inmates are Michael Dueitt, serving a life sentence out of Calhoun County for capital murder; Donald Gower, serving a life sentence for capital murder in Lampass County and Terry McDonald, serving a life sentence for murder in El Paso County.

paige.hewitt@chron.com


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 43324.html

One of the original posts in the death of Officer Johnson

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-97678.html

The above article has been updated.
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Officer's killer among 5 facing escape charges
Quintero accused of trying to flee Livingston prison
By PAIGE HEWITT
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Jan. 31, 2010, 12:18AM

A killer convicted in the 2006 slaying of a Houston police officer was among five inmates accused of trying to escape from the maximum security unit in Livingston, shortly after attending a prison church service Friday night.

Using rifles and shotguns, guards fired 12 rounds, striking three inmates and thwarting the jailbreak. Those prisoners remained hospitalized on Saturday with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds and lacerations sustained from scaling razor-like barbed wire atop the Polunsky unit.

The other two inmates — including Juan Quintero, now serving a life sentence on a capital murder conviction in the killing of HPD officer Rodney Johnson — were sent back to prison with cuts to their hands and faces, said Jason Clark, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman.

Officials did not yet know whether the attempted prison break was an orchestrated effort or an impromptu run at freedom.

The five inmates, all serving life sentences, left a worship service around 9 p.m., allegedly scaled an interior fence and were trying to climb a perimeter fence when guards in the tower and on the ground opened fire. The inmates now face charges of attempted escape, and their security classifications and privileges will change, Clark said.

The inmates included Michael Dueitt, who is serving a life sentence out of Calhoun County for capital murder and was shot in the upper thigh; Donald Gower, serving a life sentence for capital murder in Lampasas County; and Terry McDonald, who is serving a life sentence for murder in El Paso County and was shot in the upper right arm.

Quintero and the fifth inmate, Albin Zelaya-Zelaya, are serving time for convictions in Harris County.

Zelaya-Zelaya was an MS-13 gang member who is serving a life sentence for burglary with intent to commit a felony last year. Zelaya-Zelaya, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, was shot in the collarbone-area during the alleged breakout attempt Friday night.

During the burglary trial here, family members from Honduras testified that Zelaya-Zelaya hacked a woman's parents to death with a hatchet as they watched in horror. The burglary case is on appeal and was last in court in November.

Zelaya-Zelaya was arrested in connection with an FBI sting, according to court documents. Local police also suspected him in kidnappings of illegal immigrants. Zelaya-Zelaya also was wanted last year for questioning in a 2004 attack on a bus in Honduras that killed 37 people.

Johnson's wife, Joslyn Johnson, applauded correctional officers for foiling the prison break but said she can't help but wish a bullet would have struck Quintero, who killed her husband during a routine traffic stop in 2006. She's still shocked that the illegal immigrant didn't receive the death penalty for the crime, which ignited debate over immigration policy.

“How does he continue to get away with everything?â€

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-4884--0-0.html

Here is a KHOU Channel 11 News story with video.

http://www.khou.com/news/TDC-Source-3-i ... 00857.html

This is just another case of illegal aliens doing jobs that American don't want.

these are links to the other three houston TV stations and their reports on this attempted jail escape


http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?secti ... id=7247717

http://www.click2houston.com/news/22386312/detail.html

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/lo ... in-gunfire