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Kaufman jury gives life in
prison
Career wife beater gets two life sentences for a
Valentine’s weekend rape, kidnapping
Monitor Staff Reports
KAUFMAN–A 37-year-old Dallas County man was sentenced to life in prison
for the Feb. 14 kidnapping, rape and brutal beating of his girlfriend.
Christian Andress Ojeda was found guilty in 422nd District Court on
charges of
• aggravated kidnapping,
• two counts of aggravated sexual assault,
• aggravated assault and
• aggravated family violence.
The verdict and sentencing occurred Oct. 28.
A Kaufman County jury sentenced Ojeda to 99 years in prison on each of
the first three charges and gave life sentences on the other two, a
press release from Kaufman County District Attorney Rick Harrison
stated.
The charges stem from an ordeal that occurred over the Valentine’s Day
weekend, where Ojeda beat and held his 29-year-old girlfriend against
her will, first at an Abner Baptist Church parsonage, where the couple
was living, and later at a burned-out trailer house, which had been
their former home, where he physically and verbally abused her, as well
as raped her twice.
“This didn’t happen for three minutes. It didn’t happen for three hours.
It lasted for three days,” Harrison told jurors in his closing
arguments. “Everyone, from the deputies who responded, to the nurses who
examined her, called this the worst beating they had ever seen, and it
happened right here in your county.”
During the punishment phase of the trial, Harrison and assistant
district attorney Brandi Fernandez portrayed Ojeda as a career wife
beater with a criminal history of 12 prior convictions stretching back
to 1994, with eight different assault charges.
“He’s rung the bell on every assault charge in the penal code. This man
is a classic abuser of women. Nobody deserves what this woman went
through,” Harrison said.
At the trial’s conclusion, Harrison commended jurors for their decision.
“This was a violent man with sociopathic tendencies, who was a danger to
anybody in Kaufman County. He was a con man who used religion to fool
people. I’m glad the jury saw through his testimony at punishment,”
Harrison said.
Ron Shields dies
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
ATHENS–Former Henderson County Deputy Sheriff Ron Shields, a man
motivated to preserve the future by looking out for the abused children
of Henderson County, has died.
Visitation has been set for 5-7 p.m. Thursday (today) at the Carroll
Lehr Funeral Home, 1910 East Highway 31 in Athens. A burial in his
birthplace of Parsons, Kan., will follow Saturday, Nov. 7.
Shields leaves a legacy in the form of the hundreds of police officers
he’s taught and children’s lives he’s saved that bodes well for the
future.
He was truly one of the good guys.
Shields had recently retired after more than 20 years in law
enforcement; the latest posting as the Brownsboro police chief.
AT LEFT: File courtesy photo
A younger Ron Shields holds his baby granddaughter, Laura Elizabeth
Bishop.
He has, up until recently, taught police officers at the East Texas
Police Academy in Athens, pouring into them all his experience and
attention to detail.
“Law enforcement is all heart and soul. If you don’t have that, don’t
waste your time,” Shields said to his police academy cadets.
“When I go to work, it’s like I have a little Ron Shields on my shoulder
telling me what to do,” former student and Kaufman County deputy Teresa
Ogburn told The Monitor.
“It’s because of the way he teachers and lives, and the words he uses.
We just soak it up like a sponge,” Ogburn said. (She is the
daughter-in-law of deputy Tony Ogburn, who was killed in the line of
duty May 17, 2007.)
A 2008 Hope Award winner, Shields was honored at an April 5 celebration
at the Cain Center, which showered him with gratitude and respect soon
after he and a few close friends learned he was dying of cancer.
At that time, State Rep. Betty Brown presented a resolution approved by
the 81st Texas Legislature commending Shields for “exemplifying the
highest ideals of the law enforcement profession.”
Brown added, “His contributions to our country and our community are
immeasurable, and I want him to know how much his service is
appreciated.”
The Monitor also featured him in an April 5 article titled “Honoring a
heart of compassion – Citizens rally in tribute to Ron Shields, a
child’s defender.”
Shields is survived by his wife of 45 years, Lois, whom he described as
the love of his life.
Payne Springs goes wet
Monitor Staff Reports
CEDAR CREEK LAKE–An old adage was proven true in Tuesday’s election
results.
“If at first you don’t succeed; try, try again.”
That’s just what proponents of allowing the sale of liquor in Payne
Springs did.
This time – the third time – it was achieved without much fanfare or
public comment at city hall meetings, and without noisy letters to the
newspaper editor.
Just 114 city residents participated in this year’s liquor option
election, with unofficial results putting the score at 66 for and 48
against.
It didn’t hurt that not many voters felt it worth getting out to the
polls, when no one was running for office and the state was asking
voters to consider 11 propositions.
The proposition was narrowly defeated Nov. 7, 2006, by 12 provisional
votes counted after the unofficial count tallied a four-vote wet
victory. A total of 140 voted in the ’06 election. It failed again in
May, 2006.
Proponents regarded it as a revenue-raising issue.
“I don’t feel going we would have caused anyone to take up drinking,
though it may have prevented some drunk driving,” then-mayor Michael
McDonald told The Monitor.
McDonald expressed hope that with the passage of the liquor option, a
grocery store may be tempted to open in Payne Springs. |