TYC Documentary Project

Meet Justin

Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 6:08 pm

Justin discusses the reasons for his attempted escape. 

Justin sentenced to adult prison

Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 12:06 pm

On January 18, a county judge sentenced Justin to 21 years in state prison for attempted escape from a TYC facility, and bodily harm to the guard with whom he struggled during the escape.

A security video played in the hearing shows Justin entering the guardroom a few minutes before midnight on January 4, 2007, where a single officer was on duty. Justin appears to distract the officer with conversation while a second boy enters the room and tackles the officer from behind. The three struggle on the floor for nearly two minutes while two more boys enter the guardroom and take the guard’s keys and call radio. A second guard, who had been monitoring the security video and saw the attack, enters the room and three of the boys run outside. Only one would make it over the facility’s razor-wire fence. Justin and the other boy were caught quickly.

The guard who sustained the attacks told Judge Reba Towsley Corbett that he had received no broken bones, but many muscle strains and bruises. He was placed on light duty for several weeks after the incident. He said he feared for his life during the attack, and now suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. After a medical seperation of several months, he has resumed his position as a guard at TYC.

Prosecuting attorneys for the county emphasized Justin’s first offense—the sexual assault of his sister that took him to TYC at thirteen years old—and his many behavioral violations in TYC, calling him a repeat offender and a budding career criminal. Pointing out that he had been dropped from TYC’s Sex Offender Treatment program before completing it, they said Justin had not been rehabilitated and was likely to offend again.

Defense attorneys argued that abusive and arbitrary treatment during Justin’s incarceration made him desperate and willing to attempt anything to escape the TYC campus. Justin testified that TYC doctors had taken him off the psychiatric medications he had taken since fifth grade to control Bipolar Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. He claimed many of his behavioral violations stemmed from fighting in self-defense, or from accidents. He also claimed to have petitioned for months to be allowed to re-enter the Sex Offender Treatment program after he was declared a failure, but had been denied. After more than four years in TYC, Justin says he came to believe he would never be released.

Defense attorney Stephen Keng asked Corbett to give Justin probation and allow him to return home. He pointed out that in the four months since Justin was bonded out of county jail, he has held a steady job and been active in church. “This is a young man at a turning point,” Keng said. “We are asking you to give him a chance.” Two members of the Temple, TX, Bethel Assembly of God testified that Justin had recently been baptized and seemed sincere about making a new start.

After attorney concluded five hours of testimony, Corbett told the defense she was not interested in the facts they had presented regarding the conditions of Justin’s confinement in TYC. “I am not here today to try TYC,” she said. Saying she was interested only in the attack on the guard and injuries he had sustained, Corbett sentenced Justin to 21 years in state prison.

Justin said goodbye to his family and the members of his church, exchanging hugs over the wall of the gallery box. He was then handcuffed, escorted from the courtroom, and taken to the Lee County Jail.

Justin enters no contendere plea

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 4:15 pm

Justin has entered a plea of no contendere to the Lee County District Court on the charge of attempted escape and causing bodily harm to a TYC employee. As part of the plea, the court will conduct an investigation into the circumstances of the attempted escape before issuing a sentence. Justin and his family are hoping the court will consider Justin’s state of mind at the time of the attempted escape, after nearly four years of incarceration and what they beleive were deliberate attempts on the part of TYC staff to extend his stay another five years, until his 21st birthday. They also hope the court will consider the circumstances of Justin’s confession to his original offense—according to his family, Justin was pulled out of school and questioned by police officers for eight hours, during which he was persuaded to confess to incidents and details that never happened, and was told that if he did not sign his confession he would never see his mother again. 

Justin’s sentencing is expected in January.