Ankle monitors tie 2 men to slaying
Prosecutors say suspects were free on bond when off-duty constable’s deputy was shot
Investigators linked two men accused of killing a Harris County constable’s deputy in August to their ankle GPS monitors — devices that judges ordered them to wear for more than a year following charges in the deaths of others.
Prosecutors outlined on Monday how Ahsim Taylor Jr., 21, and Jayland Womack, 20, arrested Friday, were free on bond and wearing monitors to track their whereabouts at the time of a possible road rage clash with off-duty Precinct 3 deputy Omar Ursin. Both defendants on Aug. 28 were allegedly in the vicinity of where Ursin was shot in the face and killed as he went to pick up food for his family.
A witness saw another vehicle driving side-by-side with Ursin’s car in the moments before four gunshots were heard, prosecutor Ryan Trask said. Ursin was struck by the gunfire and lost control of his vehicle — which went onto the curb and slammed into a tree, he continued. The other vehicle turned onto a nearby street.
The vehicle stopped a half hour later at a gas station near Womack’s home.
Ursin, meanwhile, was rushed to a hospital but did not survive. Authorities were unaware that Ursin was a law enforcement official until his family arrived at the hospital.
Constable Sherman Eagleton sat in the courtroom as the prosecutors read the probable cause that led to both defendant’s arrest. He was joined by Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who rarely sits so early in the criminal proceedings. Both officials addressed the case outside the courtroom.
“He wasn’t just an employee
of mine — he was a personal friend,” Eagleton said.
The district attorney’s office stressed in court and afterward that Taylor and Womack were out on bond in connection to prior killings. Defendants are, in most cases, entitled to bail under federal and state constitutions. It can be denied in limited circumstances, such as capital cases.
Ogg said the GPS monitors were not enough of a deterrence for Taylor and Womack from re-offending while out on bond, going as far to say that defendants charged with violent offenses must remain in jail. Taylor, while free on bond, was attempting at one point to find a job, according to her office.
“It just seems highly unlikely that somebody charged with murder or capital murder could even go get a job,” Ogg said.
Judge Denise Collins, a visiting jurist who was among the officials who lost their benches following the 2018 election, revoked and raised the bonds on the defendants’ earlier cases — and asked both parties to return to 263rd District Court on Friday and argue why the men should or should not be held without bail on the new charges.
“There’s no way they’re getting out of jail before Friday,” Trask said. “At the hearing, we hope that the judge will understand the facts and see them for what they are and then hold them at no bond until their trial.”
Taylor was charged with capital murder in June 2021 in the death of a man whom he and a second defendant were selling a vehicle to. A Harris County magistrate initially set bail at a combined $220,000 on the capital murder and a tampering with evidence charge, but Judge Amy Martin in the 263rd District Court lowered the amount to $95,000. He made bail that same day and was later released, according to court records.
He remained free on bond for more than a year — appearing in court when mandated, including a disposition setting nearly two weeks before the deputy’s death. He was ordered to wear an ankle monitor and abide by a curfew from the start of his case, court records show.
While on bond, Taylor attempted to secure employment at a Chili’s chain restaurant, Trask said.
Taylor’s murder case is among the more than 42,800 pending felonies in Harris County’s beleaguered criminal court system — more than half of which are 180 days or older, according to county records. A Houston Chronicle investigation exposed a growing backlog in the courts stemming from Hurricane Harvey and the pandemic and that more defendants were going on to accrue murder charges as their time on bond grew longer.
“It takes so long in this backlogged courthouse to get to trial, four to five to six years in these cases,” Ogg continued. Neither defendant’s prior cases were set for trial, she said.
Womack’s initial murder charge, meanwhile, is older. In January 2021, he was arrested in connection to a fatal shooting during a suspected marijuana deal, according to court documents.
A magistrate ordered that he be held on a $35,000 bond — which he made that week. Judge Greg Glass in the 208th District Court revoked his bail last December following accusations that he had been in contact with an accomplice.
Bond was raised to $75,000 — an amount Womack also made to secure his release.
The district attorney’s call for violent offenders to remain jailed comes as the Harris County lockup faces a noncompliance notice for failing to process new inmates within 48 hours. The delays at booking have been attributed to the growing jail population and a lack of space for those defendants. The jail has recorded a population of 10,000 or more for every day since Sept. 2 — and nearly half of those defendants are charged with violent crimes.
The noncompliance notice has forced the Harris County Sheriff’s Office make a plan to alleviate the intake delay within 30 days.