$45K bond added on charge of child injury in Maleah case
The man linked to the death of 4-year-old Maleah Davis was given a $45,000 bond amount Wednesday for the latest charge lodged against him in the case.
Prosecutors asked 180th state District Court Judge DaSean Jones for a $100,000 bond on the first-degree felony injury to a child charge filed Monday against Derion Vence, who’s already sitting in the Harris County Jail on a felony tampering with a corpse charge.
In arguing for the higher bond, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said
Vence showed “violent tendencies” when he allegedly beat Maleah earlier this year. The injury to a child charge doesn’t explicitly allege that Vence killed Maleah; it claims he caused her serious bodily injury by either hitting her with his hands, hitting her with a blunt object, causing her to fall to the floor or causing her to strike a blunt object.
After ordering Vence’s bond at $45,000, Jones told prosecutors in court that the lower amount was appropriate for the allega
tions.
“If it’s amurder, file it as amurder,” Jones said.
Prosecutors have yet to charge Vence with murder and, for now, are relying on the injury to a child charge to send him to prison.
“Prosecutors only have to prove he intended to seriously injure her, not that he intended to kill her,” Harris County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Dane Schiller said. He also said that additional charges are always possible.
The injury charge can carry the same punishment as murder, anywhere from five to 99 years
or life in prison should he be convicted.
The similar punishment can make all the difference for a prosecutor, said one criminal defense attorney.
“The net effect is lowering the burden of proof for the prosecution,” said E. Tay Bond, who is not involved in the case.
After a flock of Maleah supporters left the courtroom, Vence’s defense attorney — former prosecutor Dorian Cotlar — refused to answer questions posed by half a dozen reporters as he waited for an elevator on the 19th floor of the Harris County Criminal Courts building courtroom in
downtown. He eventually flagged down a pair of bailiffs and contended he was being harassed and pushed by the members of the media.
The bailiffs escorted him to a private room behind the courtroom. He declined to comment.
While Vence wasn’t present in the courtroom, supporters for Maleah were there to watch the developments unfold. Flanked by supporters sporting “Justice For Maleah” T-shirts, Maleah’s cousin Tamisha Mendoza said she was disappointed at the bond amount and the fact that Vence wasn’t required to show up.
“You’re steady in pushing court dates, you’re steady in lowering bonds,” Mendoza said. “Hell, if that’s the case, just let him out and let the streets deal with it.”
Vence, 27, now has a total bond amount of $90,000 on both the injury to a child and tampering charges.
The latter charge led to Vence’s May 11 arrest that followed Maleah’s disappearance a week earlier.