Surprise Deal Made for Punishment in Heroin Baby Trial

SAN ANGELO, TX — The trial of Cristin Bradley took another surprising twist early Friday morning at the Tom Green County Courthouse. The defense and prosecution reached a plea bargain on the punishment.

Bradley was found guilty by a jury of 12 peers Thursday evening of a lesser Second Degree Felony of recklessly causing serious bodily injury to a child. She was on trial for the First Degree Felony of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. The differences in the two charges are important for the severity of punishment. The First Degree Felony punishment range is 5-99 years; the punishment for a Second Degree Felony is 2-20 years. Both carry a maximum financial penalty of $10,000.

Based upon jury notes published today that were taken during Thursday’s deliberations, it appears that one juror could have caused a mistrial.

“Should the judge be alerted that juror [name redacted] does not understand the definition of ‘legal of statuary duty to act’ and continues to refer to her personal situations of why she doesn’t agree with the definition of ‘assumed care, custody, or control.’ [She is] showing personal bias by referring to multiple past personal experiences,” the jury foreman wrote presiding Judge Carmen Dusek.

The jury instructions included requested verbiage from defense attorney Tommy Jackson to carefully define the legal and statutory conditions of Bradley’s responsibilities for care and protection of the infant who died.

Judge Dusek, in a written response, reminded the jury to only consider evidence and testimony given during the 12-day trial, and that “You must not consider or mention any personal knowledge of information you may have about any fact or person connected with the case that is not evidence in the trial.”

The potential for a hung jury appeared to have loomed over the jury’s final and lesser Second Degree Felony verdict.

Overnight, prosecution and defense conferred over striking an agreement for the punishment phase of the trial. The two sides eventually agreed to forgo having the punishment considered by the jury and instead to request that Judge Dusek sentence Cristin Bradly to 11 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison system. The plea deal also required Bradley to waive her right to appeal her conviction.

Prosecutor and 51st District Attorney Allison Palmer addressed the court regarding the plea deal.

“Of course we were surprised by the jury’s verdict,” she said. “But this is at least a punishment.” Judge Dusek interrupted Palmer to remind the court, “And it has a ‘no appeal clause.’”

Bradley’s attorney Jackson noted that the agreed upon number of years in prison sits in the mid-range of the minimum and maximum terms and that his client was agreeable. It was a “common sense landing point,” Jackson told the court.

Co-defendants Dustin Smock and Destiny Harbour are still awaiting trial. Trial dates are not set but a pre-trial hearing is scheduled for August 22 for both defendants. Both are charged with the same offense as Bradley.