HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — No arrest warrant has been issued days after a west Houston man was indicted within the parking zone dispute homicide of an Afghan refugee.
As a substitute, 31-year-old Katia Bougere was issued a summons to look in courtroom on the homicide cost Tuesday morning, which a number of attorneys inform Eyewitness Information is uncommon.
The Harris County District Legal professional’s Workplace, which attorneys say decides whether or not to difficulty warrants, declined to elucidate its reasoning.
“I’ve labored on this complicated since 1999, so 26 years, and I’ve by no means seen or heard of a summons in a homicide case,” mentioned Joe Vinas, a former chief felony prosecutor for the District Legal professional’s Workplace who now works as a legal protection lawyer.
“It’s an anomaly,” mentioned Murray Newman, a protection lawyer who additionally as soon as labored as a prosecutor.
Abdul Waziri, a father of two who served alongside the U.S. Particular Forces in Afghanistan, was shot a number of instances on April 27 after police say he and the shooter argued over a parking spot at their west Houston house complicated.
Waziri’s household beforehand instructed Eyewitness Information that Waziri and the shooter had been in a bodily altercation previous to the taking pictures.
However Omar Khawaja, an lawyer representing Waziri’s household, mentioned any attainable self-defense declare is contradicted by eyewitness testimony.
“After that altercation is totally over, Mr. Waziri is then shot. The shooter returns to his automobile, grabs a gun,” mentioned Khawaja.
Bougere was briefly detained and questioned the night time of the taking pictures however then launched with out being charged.
Members of the native Afghan group protested the absence of prices exterior the Houston Police Division days later.
On the time, the District Legal professional’s Workplace declined to say how it could proceed with the case, however in June, it introduced that it could refer the matter to a grand jury.
“It sort of alerts a want on the DA’s workplace, in some situations, that they do not suppose there’s sufficient proof to maintain a cost. They simply need to run it by a grand jury and say, ‘Our residents checked out this,'” mentioned Newman.
The grand jury returned its indictment Monday, and Bougere was issued a summons to look the next day.
Prosecutors have filed a movement for his bond to be set at $100,000, however he will not need to publish a bond previous to Tuesday’s courtroom date.
Waziri’s brother instructed Eyewitness Information he worries Bougere, who seems to don’t have any legal historical past in Texas, may not present as much as courtroom.
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