TYC Documentary Project

Meet Airick

Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 3:38 pm

Airick describes trying to stay out of trouble.

Airick accepts plea deal

Thursday, August 07, 2008 - 1:37 pm

Airick opted to accept a plea deal of two years of Determinant Sentence Offender probation, in return for which the state will change his charge from “Aggravated Attempted Sexual Assault” to “Aggravated Assault.” In order to accept the deal, Airick was required to tell the court that he used a weapon to assault his victim, in order for the charge to qualify as aggravated assault—in essence confessing to a crime he had insisted for nearly two years that he did not commit, in order to secure his release and return home to his family. At the time of his original trial, the victim never testified that a weapon was used or displayed as part of the assault she alleged. Privately, Airick continues to maintain that he did not assault his victim, with or without a weapon.

By the terms of the deal, Airick was paroled through the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, rather than the Texas Youth Commission, resulting in an adult felony record that will follow him into adult life. He is now living with his family out of state.

Since the Texas Supreme Court reversed and remanded Airick’s case in May, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has filed several delaying motions, and his original sentencing judge refused to write the bench warrant that would release him from the authority of the Texas Youth Commission. At issue was Airick’s inability to complete TYC’s Sexual Behavior Treatment Program. Because Airick never confessed to the crime for which he was adjudicated, he was never able to enter the program.

Airick and his family considered waiting for a retrial in which they would have attempted to prove that he did not commit either sexual assault or aggravated assault on his alleged victim. However, Airick accepted the deal when he got tired of waiting for release. “I’ve been locked up since I was fifteen. I feel like I missed my childhood,” he says. “I’d to at least try and get a little bit of that back.”

Airick’s release delayed again

Saturday, May 31, 2008 - 12:36 pm

Although Airick’s case was reversed and remanded to the lower court on April 26, one month later he is still in TYC custody. Airick was moved from the facility where he had been held for more than a year to another TYC facility. He told his mother that while handcuffed prior to transport, he was left alone in the hall, where he was attacked by another youth, pushed to the ground, and kicked in the face. He received a black eye.

Airick also told his mother he had been caught in the cross-fire of a guard pepper-spraying another youth. Airick has asthma, as well as a rare and potentially life-threatening allergy to many chemical agents, and is officially on the list of youth whom staff are not supposed to spray.

His mother has been given no word about why his release is delayed, or when she should expect him to be out.

Airick’s original sentencing judge will have the option to order a retrial for him, during which prosecutors will have to show he intended to sexually assault the woman he admits to pushing down after she called him a racial slur while he was walking past her. 

High court reverses and remands Airick’s case

Saturday, April 26, 2008 - 12:19 pm

The Texas’ Supreme Court released their ruling on April 26, reversing and remanding Airick’s case back to the judge who sentenced him. The high court found that prosecutors had failed to show that Airick’s intent was to sexually assault the woman who accused him.

Although Airick admits to pushing the woman, who he says called him a racial epithet as he was walking past, he denies that he sexually assaulted her, or ever intended to do so. He says the woman fell to the ground, after which he got scared and ran away. According to the testimony of the alleged victim, Airick did not attempt to remove her clothing or his own, and did not touch her breasts or genital area.

When originally sentenced, the fact that he had a pocket knife on him at the time of the offense was held to be sufficient evidence of intent. 

Airick’s release delayed

Monday, November 12, 2007 - 4:08 pm

Airick’s minimum length of stay was up on the 6th of November. He was reviewed for release, but the review panel found that since he had not completed treatment, he was not eligible for release. According to his mother, they then appeared to release their decision and informed her that they were preparing his paperwork for release on November 14. On November 9, TYC officials informed his mother that he would not be released on the 14th, as there were some problems with his parole paperwork. On November 12, officials informed Airick’s attorney that, as stated by the original review panel, Airick will not be released until he has completed a sex offender treatment program. He cannot enter TYC’s sex offender treatment program until he confesses to the details of the police report alleging he committed sexual assault. Essentially, he will remain in TYC custody until he confesses to a crime he says he did not commit.