Of course the reporter got it incorrect.
The original charge was evading arrest with a vehicle, which as a State Jail Felony carries a potential of 180 days to 2 years in a State jail facility. With the inclusion of the deadly weapon allegation, the punishment is raised to that of a Third-degree Felony, which has a range of punishment of 2 to 10 years in the Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice-institutional Division.
I won't list why but there is another enhancement and therefore the punishment range is increased to 25 years to 99 years or life.
Jury to deliberate today in trial
-
A jury heard opening statements and testimony Tuesday in the case of Andrew Star Glick, 35, charged with one count of evading arrest with a vehicle and use of a deadly weapon.
The original charge was evading arrest with a vehicle. Prosecutors enhanced that charge by adding a “use of a deadly weapon” provision, in reference to the stolen truck Glick was driving.
Evading police is a state jail felony with a sentence of 2-20 years, but the enhancement increases the crime to the equivalent of a third-degree felony, which carries a penalty of 25 years to life in prison.
Glick plead not guilty to the charge.
Police arrested Glick on April 6, 2008 following a pursuit through a New Braunfels neighborhood. After crashing the truck into a utility pole and fleeing the scene on foot, Glick was apprehended on the bank of Lake Dunlap.
Glick has convictions for unlawfully entering a vehicle in Georgia, attempted malicious wounding in Virginia, and convictions in Texas for forgery and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, according to the grand jury indictment.
Over objections by the defense, Judge Gary Steel allowed the admission of a videotape of Glick’s 2008 post-arrest interview with police, during which he admitted to being intoxicated.
Prosecutor Sammy McCrary said Glick’s possible intoxication played a role in his “manner of use” of the truck, rendering it a deadly weapon.
Glick’s attorney, Dave Willborn, told jury members his client was not contesting the original charge of evading arrest, but contended Glick’s use of the truck could not be construed as using a deadly weapon.
“There’s no construct in the law that allows us to plead not guilty to the deadly weapon (provision),” Willborn said after the trial concluded for the day. “So we have to plead not guilty to the whole charge, and I’ll explain that to the jury tomorrow.”
After the jury was dismissed, legal wrangling over the language of the charge kept the prosecution and defense in counsel with the judge late into the afternoon.
The debate centered on the specific circumstances under which a motor vehicle can be considered a deadly weapon. McCrary argued that the nature of Glick’s flight from police, during which he drove through yards and ran stop signs, was enough to warrant the classification of the vehicle as a deadly weapon.
Willborn eventually agreed to language narrowing the definition of “deadly weapon.”
“If they didn’t have that language in there then it would say a car can be a deadly weapon, period,” Willborn said. “(The car) has to be an actual danger to somebody else — not just a hypothetical case where if someone was on the street nearby they would have been in danger. There has to be someone that was in actual danger of death or serious injury.”
Closing statements begin at 9 a.m. today, after which the jury will retire to deliberate.
