A documented Houston gang member was sentenced to life in prison without parole this week after a Harris County jury convicted him of capital murder for killing an 11-year-old after having been released on bond for a capital murder committed four years earlier, District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“A little boy with his whole life ahead of him was murdered because of a cold-blooded ambush in broad daylight,” Ogg said. “This was a capital murder, and the appropriate sentence is life in prison without parole.”

Desmond Hawkins, 23, was convicted of capital murder for fatally shooting 11-year-old Dominic Sumicek on October 26, 2020. Hawkins shot and killed the boy and his stepfather, 41-year-old Menuell Solomon, while the two sat in Solomon’s car outside their home. Intentionally killing a child under the age of 14 is a capital crime.

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A 26-year-old Houston man, who was already in prison for raping two women, was sentenced late Wednesday to 60 years in prison for murder, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“This defendant, who raped two women by gunpoint and shot a young father for money, was a threat to the community and deserves to spend decades in prison,” Ogg said. “Gun violence is pervasive in every neighborhood, and we work hard to get these cases to trial so that families have some closure.”

Willie Robert Scott, 26, raped two women at gunpoint as they were moving into an apartment near Scott’s home on February 20, 2015. 

Eight months later, on October 23, 2015, he fatally shot Dedrick Coleman, a 20-year-old father of a two-year-old son, as Coleman walked home from a neighborhood store. Scott took Coleman’s money and cell phone.

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A 65-year-old Cypress man who pleaded guilty to murder in the brutal bludgeoning death of his wife with a nail gun was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“This is a horrible murder, and it reinforces that the most dangerous time for a battered spouse is when they are trying to leave the relationship,” Ogg said. “This woman was trying to get away from an abusive husband, and the only reason she is dead is because he could not stand to lose control of her.”

Lam Ngoc Tran, 65, was convicted of murder in the death of 49-year-old My Thai Dang at their home on Peralta Springs Lane in Cypress on January 10, 2022.

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An Humble man was sentenced to life in prison for shooting another man in northeast Houston in 2019, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“Gun violence, like domestic violence, often escalates, and in this case we see a dangerous man who believed he could kill a stranger for no reason,” Ogg said. “This victim’s family lost their loved one because a man with a gun thought he could get away with murder.”

Larry Rodriguez, 45, was sentenced Friday by the Harris County jury that convicted him of murder in the fatal shooting of 34-year-old Cedric Gordon on August 10, 2019.

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A Katy man was sentenced to 35 years in prison late Thursday for shooting a driver outside a motel near Highway 290 and Tidwell, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“When people show up with a plan to start shooting and someone gets killed, that is murder,” Ogg said. “Gun violence leads to more gun violence, and the consequences for using guns to settle a score usually means decades in prison.”

Ramon Carlos Hernandez, 42, was sentenced by the Harris County jury that convicted him of murder in the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Darren Price just after midnight on April 11, 2020.

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A Houston man was sentenced to 65 years in prison late Thursday for shooting a man in a gunfight outside of a gas station off West Road in the Copperfield area in 2020, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“It is nothing short of a tragedy when a 20-year-old man loses his life in brazen and thoughtless gun violence,” Ogg said. “There are consequences when someone pulls out a gun and starts shooting—one man lost his life and the shooter will spend decades behind bars.”

Percy Dedeounta Semien, 22, was convicted by a jury of murder in the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Jaden LaCour on June 14, 2020. He was sentenced to 65 years in prison by state District Judge Robert Johnson.

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A Houston man was sentenced to life in prison without parole late Thursday for killing a convenience store manager in a 2016 armed robbery, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“The community is tired of unabashed gun violence, and when the evidence supports it, they will send a message by sending violent offenders to prison for the rest of their lives, without parole,” Ogg said. “There is absolutely no reason this hard-working store manager had to die and that his family has to live with the grief. It is heartbreaking.”

Nadonte Pugh, 27, was convicted by a jury who deliberated for about 45 minutes after a two-day trial for capital murder.

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A Katy man was sentenced by a judge to 45 years in prison Friday for his role in the murder of a former high school classmate in 2019, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“This was a premeditated murder that left a family questioning what happened to their loved one for more than a year,” Ogg said. “With help from the victim’s family, and great police work, we were able to get justice in this horrible case.”

Jose Varela, 24, was sentenced to 45 years in prison by state District Judge Kelli Johnson after Varela pleaded guilty to murder for killing 22-year-old Zuhyr Hamza Kaleem on April 27, 2019.

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Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg joined with law-enforcement officials and families of murder victims Wednesday to acknowledge a new state law taking effect Friday prioritizing murder trials in Texas.

Ogg said she hoped the law, sponsored by state Sen. John Whitmire, would help reduce the backlog of murder cases that has climbed to more than 1,800 in recent years. But she warned that continued delays in testing evidence at area crime labs – specifically at the Houston Forensic Science Center – may counter that progress.

“We at the District Attorney’s Office are ready. Our friends in law enforcement are ready,” Ogg said. “Now we need the City of Houston to ensure that our evidence is ready.”

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