Jury sentences gang member to life in prison
NEW BOSTON, Texas — A Bowie County jury has sentenced LCB gang member Van Dmarcreus Grissom to life in prison.
Grissom could have been sentenced from anywhere from 15 to 99 years or life in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
The jury began deliberating about 12:10 p.m. Friday and returned with the verdict about 30 minutes later.
After three days of testimony linking Grissom to two murdersfor-hire and over a decade of illegal conduct, First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp and Assistant District Attorney Bradley Akins asked the jury in closing arguments to give Grissom a life sentence.
“Let’s be done with Van Grissom,” Crisp said to the jury.
Grissom, 34, pleaded guilty Tuesday to engaging in organized criminal activity for money in Bowie County’s 202nd District Court.
Crisp took offense to Grissom’s attorney Heath Hyde’s argument that Grissom’s mistake was running with the wrong crowd. She pointed out a history of previous offenses.
“He held a gun to a woman and her toddler. Who holds a gun on a baby? And we are in here talking about he has bad friends?” Crisp asked the jury.
Crisp spoke of the years law enforcement has spent trying to take down the LCB gang only to be the roadblocked by witness intimidation.
“These men and women have dedicated their careers to ending the violence that’s been reaped on us for years. I’m sure you have figured out we get them on nonviolent felonies instead of violent felonies because they have intimidated witnesses,” Crisp said.
Both Crisp and Akins told jurors their verdict could help make Texarkana and Bowie County a safer place to live. Crisp used the murders of Jermaine “Bubba” Aldridge in the Chili’s restaurant parking lot and Joseph “Jay Hawk” Hawkins’ murder outside an auto body shop as examples.
“These are public places. The mall parking lot. An auto body shop. What level of criminal activity have we reached when you are killing people in the mall parking lot?” Crisp asked.
“They (LCB) have killed their own friends,” Akins said. “We have a duty as a community to come together and put an end to it. It has gone on far too long. You have heard information about murder for hire, about people coming to our community and invoking carnage in our streets.”
Hyde asked the jury to consider giving Grissom 20 years because nothing he had done warranted a life sentence. Hyde told the jury
there had been talk from the state about Grissom being a leader in the organization because of “word on the street,” but there was no evidence of that. The members acted independently, Hyde said.
“In most organized groups, there is someone who the buck stops with, and there is no evidence of that in this group. The evidence does not support that he was in charge of this organization,” he said.
Earlier Friday, Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Andrew Venable described some actions of the LCB gang as “mafia style tactics.”
There was evidence of the group paying for members’ lawyers. Money also insulated them from some of the “dirty work” of the organization, he testified.
“Like murder for hire?” Crisp asked.
Venable testified that was correct.
Venable also testified LCB first came on local law enforcement’s radar around 2015. The members were connected with a few drive-by shootings, but then there was a lull for a while.
“It seemed the organization had changed or adapted their strategies in how to make their money,” Venable testified.
The gang formed entities including R&B Trucking, H&H Trucking and Hope’s Hauling to make it appear the money earned from drug trafficking was legitimate.
Loyalty Cash Business or LCB was originally formed as a juvenile street gang called Little Cuz Boys in approximately 2003.
After the verdict was handed down, Crisp called the life sentence well-justified.
“Following the culmination of several long days of testimony, a Bowie County jury handed down a well-justified life sentence for Van Grissom, a leader within the criminal street gang known as LCB. For over a decade, this group of criminals has trafficked drugs and committed violence in our communities, including murder, aggravated robbery, deadly conduct and rampant witness tampering, intimidation, and retaliation,” Crisp said.
She cited the work of “several dedicated police officers” who worked for years in gathering evidence in the case.
“It was not lost on the district attorney’s office that the men and women who testified against LCB, despite the risk involved, enabled the jury to come to a just and right decision that will deliver safety for law abiding citizens,” Crisp said.
Crisp said the Bowie County District Attorney’s Office is thankful to Sherrif Jeff Neal and Chief Deputy Robby Mccarver for coordinating the security plans for the trial participants and witnesses.
“The men and women of the Texarkana Texas Police Department assisted in the endeavor to ensure the safety of everyone involved. The officers and deputies of these law enforcement organizations protected the trial process so that law and order could be administered for our citizens,” she said.