Friday's Internet Edition, November 21, 2008.
Hamilton jurors return
convictions in two trials
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COMPLETE LOSS- This house on East Leslie Street was a complete loss after fire swept through it late Monday night. The alarm sounded for the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department a little before midnight, but Fire Chief Toby Logan said when they arrived at the scene the house was already fully engulfed in flames. The firemen also had to contend with ammunition exploding in the structure. A neighbor’s garage and all of its contents adjacent to the house also went up in flames. The Hamilton Sheriff’s Department told The Herald-News Monday morning that the home was vacant and the electricity was not connected. The State Fire Department was notified and investigators were expected to be in Hamilton Tuesday.
Photo by Bukki Erwin |
Jurors found Paul Amaro, 42, guilty of aggravated assault on a public servant and sentenced him to 36 years in the penitentiary.
Amaro was charged with pointing a rifle at a Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department Deputy and then locking himself in his car and keeping law enforcement officers at bay during at standoff that lasted more than 10 hours. This happened in the driveway of a residence on N. Pecan Street only a couple of blocks from the Hamilton square.
At 12:24 a.m. on Oct. 20, 2007, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department received a call from a resident at 211 North Pecan complaining that she was receiving harassing phone calls from Amaro.
Deputy Rios responded to the home and while he was there Amaro called again. The deputy warned Amaro not to come to the home, but shortly after, Amaro drove up in the driveway.
Rios said he shined his flashlight into Amaro’s vehicle and saw that Amaro was pointing a scoped rifle at him.
Rios called for backup. As the morning went on, SWAT teams from Stephenville and the DPS joined in the standoff.
Later that morning, DPS officers used a flash-bang device to subdue Amaro when he stepped from the pickup to relieve himself. He got back into the vehicle, but officers broke out the driver’s side window and arrested him.
Amaro had a previous felony record.
In the second trial in Hamilton last week, Clifford Bryan Cason, 19, of Killeen was found guilty of burglary of a building on May 29, 2007. He received a one-year state jail sentence, which was probated for five years. He also was assessed a fine of $5,000, which was also probated for five years.
Cason was charged with a burglary that occurred at Lawson Implement Co., Inc. on Highway 281 south of Hamilton.
A resident noticed an unfamiliar vehicle parked at his business that night not far from Lawson Implement and alertly wrote down the license plate number. That tip led officers to Cason. Money believed to have been stolen from Lawson’s was found in the vehicle.