Let the appeal process begin.
I just know it will.
Man sentenced to 15 years for armed robbery
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It took a jury of 12 more than four hours to sentence Harold Lee Lloyd to 15 years in prison on Thursday.
In less than half that time the day before, the same jury found Lloyd guilty of aggravated robbery in connection to a May 30, 2008 robbery at the Rodeway Inn of I-35 in New Braunfels.
Lloyd will be eligible for parole in 2017.
During sentencing Thursday, Lloyd’s pastor, Robert Ambs of Comal Bible Fellowship, said that since his arrest, Lloyd has been studying the Bible and making changes while in jail.
“He wants to rise above that problem,” Ambs said of Lloyd’s troubles with alcohol.
Cheryl McCoy, Lloyd’s common-law wife, pleaded for leniency and probation.
“He is just a wonderful father and husband,” McCoy said. “Give him help and don’t just send him away.”
She broke into sobs when telling about the couple’s 3-year-old son asking when his father was coming home.
Prosecutors argued that Lloyd was not thinking about his family when he held a hotel clerk at gunpoint and grabbed about $250 in cash.
“Mr. Lloyd does what he wants to do when not in secure custody,” said Assistant District Attorney Steven de Lemos.
He called Lloyd a threat to society.
In earlier sentencing testimony, de Lemos had shown jurors the patrol car video of Lloyd cursing at a police officer during an arrest for public intoxication on Oct. 17, 2008. At the time, he was out on bond for the robbery charge.
Police allege that, while in custody, Lloyd threatened to shoot a New Braunfels officer the next time he had the chance.
“He’s talking about finding God now. He’s talking about changing his life. That’s easy to say when you’re locked up,” de Lemos said.
The DA recommended from 40 to 50 years for the robbery, or at least more than 10 years without probation.
Jurors sentenced Lloyd to 15 years.
Lloyd was taken into custody for transport to prison. He also faces up to an additional 10 years in prison if convicted of a third-degree felony retaliation charge for threatening New Braunfels officers on Oct. 17, 2008.
