Court roundup: multiple pleas, probation terms and several sentences handed down in 252nd District Court

The presiding judge in the 252nd District Court handled a range of pleas, revocations and sentencing matters on Feb. 12, 2025, accepting multiple guilty pleas, issuing several sentences and resetting other cases for presentence reports.

Major outcomes included: Dylan Blackwell, who pleaded guilty to assault of a child, was placed on a 10-year deferred probation, ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, required to register as a sex-offender, prohibited from social media for a period ordered by the court, and required to complete the cognitive track of the ISF program as a condition of probation. The judge warned that violating probation could expose Blackwell to the previously agreed cap of 15 years in prison.

Quindarius Moore entered pleas of true to counts of unauthorized use of a vehicle and was sentenced in accordance with his agreement to 18 months in state jail. Wesley Antoine was found true on aggravated-assault family-violence counts and sentenced to 15 years in the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; the court noted a deadly-weapon finding in the underlying case.

Jamie Story surrendered to a previously entered guilty plea for theft of property with prior convictions. The court suspended a 10-year institutional sentence and placed Story on 10 years of probation with a $500 fine under the parties’ agreement.

Other dispositions included: Lee Calvin Lewis pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and receiving a two-year institutional sentence in line with the parties’ agreement; Edward Sellers pleading guilty to class A misdemeanors (terroristic threat of a public servant/harassment in a correctional facility) and receiving concurrent one-year terms in the Jefferson County jail; and Quindarius Moore and others receiving written admonishments about ineligibility to possess firearms under Texas law where applicable.

Several cases were reset for presentence reports or additional review rather than receiving final sentences today. The court reset the matters of Emilio Rodriguez (probation-revocation finding entered; sentencing reset), Federico Ortiz (guilty plea accepted; sent to probation department for pre-sentence report), Jack Hez Turner (guilty plea accepted; reset for pre-sentence report), Haley Decker (guilty pleas accepted; cases reset for pre-sentence reports), and others where the probation department was asked to prepare updated reports for the court.

In one probation-revocation hearing, the judge found sufficient evidence to find a defendant guilty and revoked probation but postponed sentencing to allow probation to update its report and present additional information at a later sentencing hearing. In multiple plea-and-sentencing matters the court handed defendants the trial-court certification forms showing that the pleas followed agreements and waivers of appeal.

The court routinely read written admonishments to defendants about firearm-ineligibility under Texas law, the consequences of failing to register if placed on a required offender caseload, and the statutory consequences of failing to complete registration requirements.

The court calendar included other procedural matters: setting new dates, counsel changes, and requests for time to review discovery materials (for example, video evidence tied to an arson charge was noted as recently received and cases were continued to allow defense review).