Paul Westbrooks, held in the Jefferson County Jail on charges of aggravated assault and being a felon in possession of a firearm for more than a year now, has seen the state go down on proposed penalty attached to admission of guilt, but the accused rejected a plea deal assessing four years’ incarceration on Jan. 4 before Judge Raquel West.
According to prosecutor Ashley Molfino, the state’s offer for jail time is “considerably less” than what was initially parlayed as a fair deal. Molfino said two primary reasons sparked the state’s change of heart.
First, Molfino said, “The defendant is not a habitual offender,” as was originally thought. Additionally, the complaining victim in the assault, Molfino learned over the holidays, is now deceased.
With no witness, evidence dwindled dramatically, the prosecutor explained.
“It’s always been my position to be up front with counsel and the court,” Molfino said in disclosing the witness availability. Although she does not waver on asserting the defendant’s guilt, especially in the firearm possession charge, Molfino does notify the court that a trial would prove trying, at best. “It may fall into the same category of the state having difficulty proving it.”
In 2012, then-19-year-old Westbrooks was discovered in Houston by officers with the Beaumont Police Department and the U.S. Marshal’s Office while on the run for alleged crimes including evading arrest in a motor vehicle, theft and an outstanding motion to revoke probation in connection with an earlier burglary in which he was accused.