Facing Death Penalty, Murderer of Chubby and Jared Cops a Plea

SAN ANGELO, TX – The wheels of justice continue to move in the case of The State of Texas vs. Dwayne Chadwick as he was in court Monday to plead to a lesser offense of two counts of murder instead of capital murder as he was originally charged.

Chadwick admitted he was the murderer in the sordid tale about the two murder victims, Jared Lohse and a man Jared called his “dad,” Jack “Chubby” Harris. The two were shot in their faces and their bodies burned in a fully-engulfed house fire in the wee early morning hours of March 20, 2019.

Monday morning, the Tom Green County Judicial System delivered justice for the families of Jared and Chubby. 

Chadwick, as he sat in the courtroom at the beginning of the hearing Monday morning, was facing the death penalty. The judge informed him that the State had substantial evidence against him and he could see the death sentence carried out after a jury of his peers considered the evidence. 

Chadwick contended that he acted in self defense but was convinced to take a plea bargain instead of going to trial fearing the evidence against him.

The 51st District Attorney Allison Palmer and Assistant DA Megan Wyatt presented a plea deal. Instead of seeking the death penalty, the DA would instead charge Chadwick with two counts of murder in the first degree. Each of the murder charges carry with them a punishment range of 5-99 years or life in prison.

DA Palmer also agreed to reduce the maximum sentence to a range of 5-45 years in prison for each count and each sentence would be carried out concurrently. In return for the reduced sentence, Palmer said Chadwick must waive his right to appeal his plea and conviction.

Palmer said she had discussed the plea bargain and the reduced sentence with members of the victims' families. Many family members, of course, wanted the death penalty, but Palmer said they understood her reasoning for the reduced charges. She told the court that her reasoning for agreeing to the plea bargain was twofold:

• The plea deal secured a guilty verdict without the necessity for trial and a jury determination, and 
• The plea deal eliminated years of appeals and potential uncertainty on the outcome of those appeals.

The sentences, which will be determined at a later court date, are required by State law to be served concurrently because both murders stemmed from the same event, the court said. 

Judge Carmen Dusek, 51st District Court, pronounced the defendant guilty of 1st Degree Murder using a deadly weapon, specifically a firearm. Chadwick waived his right to appeal the guilt and innocence phase as well as punishment phase of the trial for a punishment range of up to 45 years. 

The court anticipates the punishment phase to happen in five to seven days to give both prosecution and defense time to prepare evidence.

Chadwick was represented by the Regional Public Defenders for Capital Cases based in Lubbock.

Over the past months the District attorney's office and Chadwick's State-appointed attorney Steven Goble have filed a number of motions in preparations for the trial. Those included items including media at the trial, how the jury would be selected, and the Jury Questionnaire. 

An interesting entry into Chadwick's court docket was a letter to the Judge from the defendant's father. Chadwick's father hand wrote a seven page letter that claimed he, along with his son, killed and buried seven bodies across Tom Green County. Chadwick's father claimed that all of the murders were done during "Satanic Human Sacrifice Rituals." Claude Chadwick said that he would tell authorities where the bodies were if charges against Chadwick were dropped.

The Court has not mentioned the letter. Here is a sample: