Hedwig Village Murder: Rights Advocate Criticizes Parole Board

HOUSTON, TX — The violent murder shocked the quiet neighborhood, and left residents wondering if they and their families were safe. A suspect has been charged, but his arrest sparked another concern: Michael Glen Susberry, 55, was free on parole, something Andy Kahan said should have never happened.

"Such a tragedy that is utterly preventable," Kahan, the victims advocate for the city of Houston, said. "This has to do with the fact that someone on parole gets a new conviction and the parole board makes a decision not to send them back to prison."

Susberry, the son of victim Janiel Hooten Bernard's former housekeeper, stabbed Bernard several times earlier this month in her Capri Street home, leaving her for dead. He is a convicted armed robber and was sentenced to life in prison in June 1985.

Susberry was paroled in June of 2004. In 2015, he was arrested in 2015 for assaulting a family member with a knife and pleaded guilty, but was not sent back to prison, Kahan told the Houston Chronicle.

"This is the third one that I've uncovered in the past year in which we've had parolees who are now accused of murder who have (been convicted of) new offenses and not returned to prison," Kahan added.

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The rights advocate pointed to the cases of Kiara Taylor and Leroy Stoots. Taylor was released from jail on February 18, and a week later allegedly shot and killed a teenage employee at a Bellaire pizzeria. He had previously been jailed twice for parole violations.

Stoots was arrested in July of 2016 and charged in the murder of Kumba Sesay, whose body was dumped in a Houston ditch. Stoots was sent to prison in 1994 for murder, but was paroled in late 2011. He served 90 days in jail for a drug offense in early 2016.

In an email to the Chronicle, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles stated that it is currently overseeing 86,000 offenders in the state.

"When addressing parole violations, the Board often utilizes a graduated sanctions approach," Raymond Estrada wrote. "The legislature has provided the Board with options in lieu of revocation of an offender such as placement into an Intermediate Sanctions Facility, placement into a Substance Abuse Felony Punishment Program (SAFP) or the Board can continue an offender on parole under the same or modified conditions."

For his part, Kahan said that research carried out by victim advocates in Texas uncovered more than 6,000 parolees who in the past five years have been convicted of crimes since being releases from prison but remain free.

"You're always going to need to have discretion because you have to look at each case on its own merits," Kahan said. "We just have to all get on same plate on this. This was such a senseless tragedy."

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— Image: Andy Kahan (North Harris County Criminal Justice Association)