SAN ANGELO, TX – Krystal Nicole Lerma, 27, involved in the robbery-turned-double-homicide last September near Central High School appeared in court with her attorney Tuesday to ask 391st District Judge Brad Goodwin to cut her bond from $100,000 to $25,000.
Her Defense Attorney, Jimmy Stewart, made the motion for release with a reasonable bond by showing that Lerma voluntarily turned herself in on Sept. 21, 2016 and has been in jail since that date unable to post the $100,000 bond. The change to a $25,000 bound would be an amount she could make for bail, allowing her not to be in jail while waiting for trial.
Stewart was adamant that Lerma was not a risk to the San Angelo community, and said she understood her first felony charge was a serious one. Other than the robbery charge, Lerma had only been asked to appear in court for failure to pay parking tickets in the past.
During the questioning from 51st DA Allison Palmer, Lerma said she knew of Gonzalez prior to the robbery, but was not acquainted with him. As this statement was said, relatives of the victims in the courtroom looked astonished.
Following the questioning, Palmer declared the state was against the reduction believing Lerma was at risk of attempting to flee.
Palmer felt the degree of punishment for the charge would influence Lerma not to appear for her trial on July 24. She backed this notion by saying Lerma “had no significant ties to the community.” This was shown by her unstable employment history and constant moving, changin her living arrangements. In addition, her children had spent time living away from her to be with their respective fathers at various times in her past.
“It’s with this evidence, that the state respectfully requests the bond be left where it is,” Palmer said to Judge Goodwin.
On Sept. 12, 2016, Lerma, along with co-defendants Ricky Ortego Zuniga, Justin Games, and Raymond Alvarado, broke into a house on the 1000 block of Rio Grande St.
San Angelo Police officer Reeves was dispatched to the house the night of the robbery and found two males inside the residence on the floor suffering from gunshot wounds .
The victims, identified as Jimmy Andrew Gonzalez, 28, and Anthony Michael Martinez, 28, were transported to Shannon Medical Center. They were both pronounced dead by medical personnel upon arrival.
A witness told officials that he observed three men enter the residence and heard a fight break out. He then recalled hearing gunshots and took cover inside a nearby residence until the shots stopped. The witness called the police after this occurrence.
Lerma confessed in a pre-arrest interview that she had called Alvarado, and informed him she would be at Gonzalez’s home the night of the robbery, according to the complaint.
Alvarado had asked her to call him when she arrived at Gonzalez’s home. Additionally, she confessed to knowing that Alvarado planned on robbing Gonzalez that night. Lerma met with Gonzalez, and after leaving the residence, recalled seeing Alvarado run into the house. Following this, she ran to her vehicle and drove away from the house.
Alvarado is being charged with the Murder of Multiple Persons and Terror Threat/Other.
Lerma is not being charged for the murders of Gonzalez and Martinez, however, she is being charged for Burglary Habitation Intended for Other Felony, a First Degree Felony.
Following these arguments, Goodwin issued the judgment to deny the motion for a reduced bound.
“[The court will] deny the motion and keep the bound where it is,” Judge Goodwin declared.
Lerma was then escorted back to the Tom Green County jail to await her next pre-trial on July 11.
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