A Houston mother says prosecutors told her the man accused of killing her son, Keith Tondre Hardy, may receive a 15-year plea deal. Because he has already spent more than four years in jail, he could be eligible for parole in about six years. The family says the possibility of an early release has brought renewed attention to the long-running case.
Local television coverage reports that the defendant, 21-year-old Jeremiah Brown, is accused of shooting Hardy during a robbery on December 1, 2019, at 5350 Aero Park Drive, and that a judge in the 263rd Criminal District Court recently cut his bond to $35,000, according to FOX 26 Houston. Hardy’s obituary on Dignity Memorial lists his date of death as Dec. 1, 2019. The same local reporting notes that Brown has prior juvenile adjudications and that Hardy’s family says multiple assistant district attorneys have cycled through the file.
Why the plea would matter
Victims’ families and advocates say a combination of prosecutor turnover and a crowded murder docket in Harris County helps explain how plea offers like this end up on the table. District Attorney Sean Teare has acknowledged a backlog of older murder cases and is creating a homicide “call-out” team to move cases more quickly, as reported by Click2Houston, which also reports Brown’s case had been set for trial at the end of October.
What a 15-year plea would mean legally…