Assistant District Attorneys

Alli Assiter
Tiffany N. Leal Carah-Beth Bass
Chief Civil Prosecutor Allison Buess
Lauren Cole
Sammy M. McCrary Jessica Devaney
Chief Felony Prosecutor Jacqueline Doyer
Shelby Griffin
Clayten H. Hearrell Robyn Katz
Chief Misdemeanor Kiera Kilday
Prosecutor Rose Latham
JENNIFER THARP Kelsey Marsh
Daniel Palmitier
Comal County Criminal District Attorney
Joshua Presley
Tillman Roots
Holly Weatherford

June 28, 2018

The State of Texas believes that Jason Dean Hunter is a dangerous offender with a long history
of violence. With that in mind, prosecutors sought an indictment charging him with the highest offense
that could be supported by the facts. Unfortunately, that offense Solicitation of Capital Murder was
quashed over the State’s objections by the District Judge. After that count was quashed the State was
left with only second and third degree felony offenses carrying a range of punishment of no more than
20 years. After over 9 hours of deliberation and while on break, one of Hunter’s prior victims, who was
a possible witness but not under subpoena, approached a juror and spoke to the juror about the case.
This interaction was reported to the court immediately. The Court inquired as to whether the outside
influence impacted the juror’s deliberations, and the juror informed the court that it did. The Court
ordered the arrest of the individual who spoke with the juror and who remained in custody over the
weekend on a $500,000 bond for the misdemeanor offense of Improper Influence; the individual was
released by the Court on a personal recognizance bond of $1,000 on Monday afternoon.

Based on the length of the jury’s deliberations and notes sent out by the jury, it appeared
unlikely that the Defendant was going to be found guilty of the offense of Sexual Assault. It also
appeared that the Defendant might only be convicted of third degree felonies, which would limit his
possible punishment to 10 years in prison. The only hope at that point of getting a longer sentence on
Hunter would have been to try him on his separate case for Possession of Child Pornography. However,
those offenses are only third degree felonies with a maximum punishment of ten years and although
those sentences could be potentially stacked that decision would be totally within the discretion of the
Judge. Based on the Judge’s comments, the State did not believe that stacking was likely to happen.
Additionally, while preparing for the trial, the State attempted to subpoena federal officers connected to
Hunter’s Child Pornography case, and permission for them to testify was denied by two Assistant U.S.
Attorneys.

In an effort to protect the community and see to it that Hunter was removed from the streets as
long as possible under the circumstances, the State entered into a plea bargain agreement wherein

150 N. Seguin Ave., Suite 307, New Braunfels, Texas 78130-5161 Tel: (830) 221-1300 Fax: (830) 608-2008
 JENNIFER THARP
Comal County Criminal District Attorney

Hunter was sentenced to 15 years for the offense of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, which is
near the maximum sentence available for that offense. This is also a sentence that requires him to serve
half of the time incarcerated before he is eligible for parole. The State also reserved the right to appeal
the Trial Court’s decision concerning the first degree felony offense of Solicitation of Capital Murder,
which carries the penalty range of up to life in prison.

The State was not pleased with the outcome in this case and has filed its Notice of Appeal in
hopes of eventually being able to obtain a longer sentence against Hunter. We believe that this was the
best outcome available based on the facts and circumstances at the time.

150 N. Seguin Ave., Suite 307, New Braunfels, Texas 78130-5161 Tel: (830) 221-1300 Fax: (830) 608-2008