HOUSTON – A father still grieving and still looking for justice for his slain son has been hit with another blow.
The suspect in his son's death has been released from jail on a $3,000 personal recognizance bond. Although an amount is attached to the bond, a defendant does not have to produce funds to support it.
"It's not just about my son," said Emmanuel Thomas. "It's about what's right."
KPRC 2 has featured Thomas' story during a "Spencer Solves It" segment, where KPRC 2's Bill Spencer helped get a headstone to mark the grave of his son, Blake.
Thomas said he was told by a defense attorney that Bryan Ordonez-Green is now claiming self-defense in the killing and Ordonez-Green's attorney believes they have evidence.
"The reason why he was killed is what I'm being told (is) the reason they allowed him to make a bond so low," Thomas said.
However, the personal recognizance bond doesn't make sense to the family or those in the victim advocate community.
"I was troubled. I was stunned," said Andy Kahan, of Crime Stoppers. "(I was) kind of dumbfounded in a lot of ways."
Kahan, who is the director of victim services at Crime Stoppers, said in his several decades of work he's never seen a homicide suspect walk out of jail on a personal recognizance bond. Kahan said he has concerns for future cases.
"The fact that you're giving astronomically low bonds to first-degree murder offenders, and then what appears to be a P.R. bond -- I don't know where this is going to end, but sadly somebody's is going to be paying the price for this," Kahan said.
A meeting is scheduled for Wednesday in which the defense and prosecutors will meet with the Thomas family to discuss why Ordonez-Green's bond was set so low and where the case is headed.