Gangland Execution Convict is Transferred to the Big House

Daniel Uvalle admitted he was nervous as he stood, a bit mousy, in a cell on Thursday evening in his orange jumpsuit, clutching the wired phone that served as the communication device between the two small rooms separated with plexi-glass.

The convicted capital murderer had agreed to an interview earlier in the week, but by 7 p.m. on March 26, his position had changed.

Having been sentenced to life in prison on Feb 19 for being an accomplice in 2013's gangland execution-style murders, Uvalle didn’t know how long he’d remain in the county jail on Thursday, but he felt it would be a while. He mentioned a second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge that had been pending through his capital murder trial, and said he didn’t yet know what would become of that case. He also plans to appeal, he said, naming his new San Antonio defense attorney, Dana Jones, and stating it could be a while before he gets transferred out.

After passing on the number to his attorney, Uvalle, 18, declined to make further comment and said he’d be willing to do an interview in her presence. She would arrive in San Angelo on Friday, he said, so perhaps the interview could be moved until then. The interview would never happen.

Early the following morning, at 6:41 a.m., Uvalle’s paperwork was completed and he was put on a prison transfer bus with eight other inmates with varying sentences and charges.

Also on the bus on Thursday were brothers Jaime Ramirez and Ramiro Vera, Jr., who had both been recently sentenced to serve prison terms on different incidents, including a robbery the brothers committed together at Mary E. Lee Park in Jan. 20, 2008.

Ramirez was sentenced to 12 years on Feb. 11, after Judge Tom Gossett heard a tearful plea for another chance at his motion to revoke probation trial.

Vera, 24, who also violated his probation on the aggravated robbery charge, pled true on Feb. 19 and was sentenced to 10 years for the offense, plus another 20 for manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance and a year three months for car theft.

All three of the inmates were shipped off the Abilene’s Middleton Unit early Friday morning, where they were processed into the system. Middleton is a transfer unit, where a large portion of the inmates are housed temporarily until they are sent off to more permanent units, determined by the classification, criminal records and other factors.

The intake process can take 30 days or more, said Texas Department of Criminal Justice Director of Public Information Jason Clark. Incoming inmates are shaved and fingerprinted, DNA samples are taken and a series of tests are completed for classification.

“We’ll do physical exams, like dental, eye,” Clark said. “They’ll do an initial psychological screening on the person, and that’s really to try to detect any medical or mental problems that they have, and then they’re going to do an educational test, intelligence tests, to try to get those levels.”

Clark said the inmates will also undergo long, sit-down interviews meant to assess their family structure, criminal background, history of substance abuse, employment background and other factors as part of the process.

“They’re going to take all of those things—all of the results of all of those tests—and then they’re going to base their classification [on the results], which will say where they’re going to be assigned, what’s their level of security, where are they going to be housed and all those sorts of things that come out from that process.”

Uvalle, Vera and Ramirez arrived in Abilene on Friday. As of yet, they’re going through intake and won’t be transferred to more permanent units until the process is complete.