22-year-old defendant granted his third bond by judge facing his own criminal charges now accused of murder
HOUSTON - Earlier this month, 228th Criminal District Court Judge Frank Aguilar was suspended with pay and removed from the bench.
But he was still presiding over the 228th when he gave Jamie Rook-Perez a big break.
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Rook-Perez's criminal history begins with a DWI charge in another county.
"A couple of months later he's popped for aggravated assault of a public servant," said Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers.
In September 2022, police say Rook-Perez tried to flee from an off-duty sheriff's deputy working an extra job at a downtown nightclub.
Rook-Perez is accused of striking the deputy with a stolen vehicle, pinning the deputy's leg to another parked car.
The deputy shot him in the hand.
"What he's using as his weapon, is his vehicle, his car," Kahan said.
Last month, Rook-Perez is once again before Judge Frank Aguilar charged with evading arrest. It was January 11.
Aguilar returned to the bench on January 4 after being arrested in Galveston accused of assault with bodily injury and family violence.
"He could have said, you know what son, this bond thing just isn't working out," said Kahan. "Every time I give you a bond, you go out and commit another offense. Not only charged, but some of the stuff you do is flat out dangerous to the public."
Instead of revoking his bond or setting it at a high amount, Judge Aguilar sets Rook-Perez's bond at just $10,000.
This past Saturday, sheriff's deputies say Rook-Perez was running from them and Montgomery County Precinct 5 deputies in the 20600 block of Hufsmith Kohrville Road.
They say Rook-Perez failed to drive in a single lane and struck a tree. His passenger was killed.
That person became the 200th Harris County resident to be killed allegedly at the hands of a defendant free from jail on multiple felony bonds.
"This is another situation in which the ramifications of this criminal justice reform, involving discretionary bond reform, more than likely, has taken another person's life," Kahan said.
Rook-Perez is charged with murder and evading arrest.
He remains jailed with no bond set.