No Murder Conviction Sought on Two of 2015's Notorious Killings

Two men, who are accused of committing two completely separate violent offenses that resulted in the deaths of a 74-year-old man and a 51-year-old woman within a month of each other earlier this year were indicted by a Tom Green County grand jury this month, neither of them for murder.

Jason Scott Little, accused of firing several rounds at Eva’s Place bar and killing Bertha Vasquez, is facing a second-degree felony charge of manslaughter, a lesser offense than the first-degree murder charge that was tagged to his rap sheet when he was identified as the shooter on Feb. 6.

A felon with a prior second-degree felony conviction for possession of methamphetamine, Little’s charge has been enhanced to a first-degree felony, punishable by five to 99 years in prison and an optional fine up to $10k. Had he not been busted with the dope back in 2007, he would be facing two to 20 years in prison for allegedly killing the 51-year-old mother of three. Little has also been indicted ona third-degree felony charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

Assistant District Attorney Bryan Clayton is prosecuting both cases. He was not available for comment on the indictments at the time of publication.

Vasquez’s daughters were not available for comment at the time of publication.

Above: Yvette Gonzalez and Bertha Vasquez at Yvette's high school graduation. (Contributed Photo/Gonzalez family)

Casey Aleman, 22, was out on parole when he allegedly ingested synthetic marijuana and beat 74-year-old Virgil Dean “Honey” Gray so badly he died in the hospital 11 days later. Less than two months after being thrown in the county jail for the assault, Aleman has been indicted for injury to an elderly person with intentional serious bodily/mental injury, a first-degree felony.

Gray’s granddaughter, Shanda Carter, who learned about the indictment last week and who strongly feels her grandfather’s purported killer deserves to be charged with murder, was angry when she heard the news and still finds it difficult to accept.

“I’m pretty pissed off about that,” Carter said. “I’m not as emotional because I worked it out in my brain and I can’t let it affect me that badly, but I still greatly disagree with the charge that he’s been given, especially since the lady told me that he’s been given that charge because it’s easier.”

Carter lives in Weatherford and first saw her grandfather a few days after the assault in the hospital in San Angelo. Her sister, Felisha Lee, had been living at the home with Honey when the incident took place and personally knew Aleman, who had also stayed in the house with his girlfriend.

Lee is also taking the news hard, Carter said. “She just kept saying, ‘That can’t be, Shanda. That can’t be. He killed Honey’…somebody’s life was taken because of this guy and they said that he’d already confessed to doing it. I just don’t—I just don’t get it. To me, the phone call he made saying, ‘I think I just killed Honey’, the severity of it [proves murder]—“

Since her grandfather died on March 4, Carter has visited San Angelo on several occasions and has gone to his house on 42^nd St., where her sister still resides. In the hallway, she said, are still patches of blood on the walls her sister can’t bring herself to clean.

“I didn’t know where this had happened in the house particularly and I’d asked my sister, and she said, ‘In the hallway. Don’t you see?’” Carter said. “I kind of glanced and I saw a little bit of blood. She’s having a hard time getting that cleaned up. I told her just spray bleach on it, spray a whole bunch of bleach on it and let it sit…she said, ‘I know that, Shanda. I know that. But I can’t’. And she doesn’t look at it because it’s too hard, I guess.”

Carter said her husband also noticed what appeared to be an imprint of an arm and shoulder they believe was caused by Aleman leaning into the wall as he kicked Gray in the sides.

“I’ve been in fights,” she said. “And you fight and you’re done. You don’t continue beating the person while they’re down unless you mean to kill them.”

Aleman’s charge is a first-degree felony, which generally bears the same punishment range as murder except that his charge has been enhanced due to a prior conviction for assault/family violence with strangulation. The enhancement brings the punishment range from a minimum of five years up to 15, with a maximum of 99 years or life, with parole eligibility.

Carter said she’s been on the fence about punishment, but since she’s had time to contemplate everything, has decided that life would be just in this case.

“When everything happened initially, all I could think in mind was to die, the death penalty,” she said. “That’s what I hoped for. But I’ve had time to think, and even though he’s a bad person, a really bad person, there are people that love him…and I think they shouldn't be punished by having to watch their son die. But he doesn’t need to be on the streets.”

Aleman wouldn’t have been eligible for the death penalty unless he had committed a capital murder, which has a very specific set of criteria that must be met. With life at the maximum end of the spectrum and the possibility of parole somewhere between, Carter said she isn’t quite sure how she feels about the possibility of a plea bargain as opposed to a jury trial, but wants to make sure justice is done and that Aleman is never set free to kill again.

“I’m sure he’s done it before—hurt people—and he just hasn’t been arrested for it, but he doesn’t deserve another chance to be back out on the street where he’d be able to hurt people again,” she said. “Because he’s going to do it again. It’s kind of like a dog. If a dog bites somebody, you don’t spank him and put him back out there to bite somebody again. And he’s bit twice now. He killed the second time.”