Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1 reinstates bond in retail-theft case; sets new bonds and next dates across docket

Judge Labe reinstated a bond for a defendant in a retail-theft case and set several new bond amounts and future dates during a virtual docket call in Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1.

Defense attorney Arturo Gonzales asked the court to reinstate his client's bond after she missed a court appearance; Gonzales said she had already paid $300 to enter a retail-theft diversion program but had not yet signed the contract. Judge Labe granted the request, saying, “what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go ahead and reinstate this bond, give you some time to discuss with the state, whether she's gonna continue to be in the retail debt program or not. Y'all can figure that out.” The defendant was returned to the docket control order and given a new court date of March 13, 2025, at 2:30 p.m.

The prosecutor noted the diversion offer had been withdrawn after the defendant failed to appear, and the record included a note that Assistant First Prosecutor Ibrahim Khuaja had discussed the matter; the prosecutor also said there was a record of Miss Flores speaking with Deputy Chief Stacy Carr about withdrawing the offer. Gonzales represented he had spoken with the first assistant and that the assistant would accept the defendant back into the diversion program; the judge reinstated the bond to allow the parties time to confirm whether the program placement would proceed.

Across the docket the court set or confirmed other bond and scheduling matters:

- A new bond of $1,500 was set for Heaven Berry; existing bond conditions were confirmed to remain in place, including a no-contact provision, a prohibition on entering the Katy Mills Mall property, a requirement to remain within the state of Texas and a prohibition on new offenses issued Feb. 18, 2024.

- A new bond of $3,000 was set for Gregory Shell; prior bond conditions were left in place.

- Several cases were continued toward a March 27, 2025 setting: Tony Nelson (pretrial conference), Felix Sotelo (defense counsel reported plea negotiations and expected resolution before the next setting), Ashley Alvarado (defense counsel said the client accepted an anger-management class offered in exchange for dismissal), and Priscilla Garcia (counsel reported ongoing steps related to a diversion or program qualification and asked the state to follow up). The court repeatedly scheduled March 27 as the next setting for multiple files.

- In a DWI-related case, defense counsel said Andrew Austin Lane had been invited into the DWI court program, had the program contract and had signed it; counsel expected to file the signed contract and requested the court be notified so the case could be transferred into the program track.

- One case was held to the end of the docket and ultimately passed for lack of the defendant's appearance; the court set that case for an in-person appearance on March 27, 2025, at 9:00 a.m.

Many attorneys told the court they would continue to communicate with clients and with the court coordinator (referred to as Sarah in the record) to confirm program acceptance and scheduling. Where counsel reported plea negotiations, they indicated the cases were likely to resolve before the next setting but left follow-up and formal filings to the defense and the prosecutor.

The docket items were routine status updates, bond settings and scheduling orders; no jury trials or sentencing hearings were conducted on the record during the session.