A Bowie County district judge rejected a plea offer Friday in a gun theft case pending against a Texarkana high school student.
DaQuan Queashad Huey, 17, was arrested Oct. 10 by Texarkana, Texas, police after officers allegedly found two pistols in Huey's pants. One of the weapons had been reported stolen by a retired Texarkana, Texas, police detective.
In Texas, persons accused of criminal conduct are treated as adults at 17, the age Huey reached last September. Huey pleaded guilty to theft of a firearm Jan. 25 and was scheduled for sentencing Friday before 5th District Judge Bill Miller.
In a separate incident two days after his Jan. 25 plea, Huey alleges his left eye was blinded by a police officer's pepper spray.
In a civil suit pending in a federal court in Texarkana, Huey alleges he was trying to peacefully end a fight between others when he was struck in the left eye with the full force of a police JPX pepper spray gun on the afternoon of Jan. 27. Huey claims he is the victim of unconstitutional excessive force while Texarkana, Texas, police issued a statement accusing Huey of participating in a public brawl shortly before his eye was injured.
At the beginning of Friday's hearing regarding Huey's Jan. 25 plea, Miller noted that a Gazette photographer was in the courtroom and had sought permission from the court to take pictures during Huey's hearing.
Huey's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Sylvia Delgado, said that Huey objected to any photography and asked that the photographer be removed from the courtroom. Miller obliged Huey's preference for no photography, but declined to order anyone removed from the public courtroom.
After reviewing a report detailing the findings of a presentence investigation conducted by Bowie County probation, Miller said he would not approve a plea offer from the state for Huey to receive deferred adjudication probation. Persons who successfully complete a deferred adjudication probation do not have a final felony conviction on their criminal record.
While Miller did not explain his decision in open court, judges typically reject plea offers when they believe a person's prior criminal history or the circumstances of the offense warrant a different resolution of the case.
Delgado spoke briefly with Assistant District Attorney Katie Carter before asking Miller if Huey could be sentenced to standard probation. Standard probation involves a finding of guilt and would leave Huey a convicted felon.
Miller asked Huey if he wanted more time to discuss his choices with his lawyer and family and offered to postpone the hearing. Huey requested another hearing.
Miller withdrew the guilty plea Huey entered Jan. 25 and scheduled him to return to court March 22. Theft of a firearm is punishable by six months to two years in a state jail though an offender can receive up to five years probation in lieu of incarceration.
While juvenile criminal records are not publicly available, a probable cause affidavit in the firearm theft case notes that Huey was recognized by police from "past encounters" and had outstanding warrants stemming from citations he received before age 17 at the time of his arrest Oct. 10.
Huey was free on a $10,000 bond when he was taken to a local hospital Jan. 27 with the eye injury.
Philadelphia-based lawyer Lee Merritt said in a press conference Feb. 12 that misdemeanor charges of fighting in public, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct levied against Huey in connection with the Jan. 27 incident are an effort by police to cast Huey as a suspect when he is actually a victim.
The police statement alleges Huey was holding a baseball bat and exchanging punches with a woman when a police officer grabbed him around his chest and attempted to pull him away with one hand while pointing the pepper spray gun at the woman. The police allege Huey turned toward the officer "and began to come at him in an apparent effort to attack the officer," while Huey alleges he was shot with the JPX gun in his left eye when he simply turned to see who was grabbing him from behind.
The police account also states that witnesses reported Huey was struck with the ball bat shortly before uniformed officers arrived in response to numerous disturbance calls in the area of Brookwood Street and Belt Road.
Merritt has called for an investigation into the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department by an outside agency, such as the Texas Rangers, and is asking that the charges filed in connection with the Jan. 27 disturbance against Huey be dismissed.