By Leonardo Blairsenior reporter Monday, November 4, 2024

The Rev. Roland Mouton, twin brother of the late East Bethel Missionary Baptist Church pastor the Rev. Ronald K. Mouton, who was fatally shot in the chest in June 2022 after a 10-second argument with an Uber in Houston, is calling for the suspect in her brother’s murder to be jailed for violating the terms of his bail as she laments the slow pace of justice for her family.

“Why is he still out if he violated the bond, especially four times?” Mouton asked in an interview with The Christian Post about the former Uber driver and the man accused of murdering his brother, 25-year-old Deshawn Longmire.

“Everyone said alleged murderer. Here’s the thing about the alleged killer thing, the only reason they know he’s the killer is because the guy who was after him videotaped him and videotaped the kid’s car and license plate. That’s how they know it was him,” Mouton told CP.

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Houston Police Department investigators said surveillance video from the June 24, 2022, shooting of Ronald Mouton shows the pastor, who was driving a BMW, and his alleged killer, who was driving a black Honda Accord, stopped on the highway before the shooting. .

Police say the two appeared to argue for about 10 seconds before the driver of the Honda shot the pastor in the chest, causing him to crash his vehicle. Ronald Mouton crashed shortly after 5 p.m. at 6400 Gulf Freeway near Gould Street along the southbound lanes, police said. He left behind his wife, four children and 10 grandchildren.

Longmire was later charged with murder after witnesses told investigators they saw him arguing with the late pastor at a traffic light on the Gulf Freeway frontage road. Although neither driver exited their vehicles, witnesses told police that when both vehicles began moving, Longmire “reached his arm out the driver’s window with a gun in his hand” and allegedly shot Ronald Mouton and He drove away at full speed. Surveillance videos show Ronald Mouton crashing his vehicle and he was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Records from Longmire’s Uber account showed he was in the area at the time of the shooting.

After his arrest, Longmire was released from jail on $500,000 bail, but Roland Mouton maintains that his brother’s alleged killer violated the terms of his bail four times in April of this year, so he should be returned to prison. jail until the start of his trial, which has been delayed until April 2025.

A “Bail Condition Violation Report” on Longmire reviewed by CP shows that the murder suspect did not comply with the curfew requirements of his house arrest, but the court decided not to revoke his bond.

The detail of the violations indicated is that Longmire has a GPS device with a “House Arrest” curfew.

On April 19, Longmire, according to the report, left his home during curfew and returned home during curfew without authorization several times.

“On 4/19, the defendant left his house at 1:58 pm and returned home at 2:09 pm. The defendant left again at 2:12 pm and returned home at 2:13 pm. The defendant left again at 2:16 pm and returned home at 2:17 pm,” the report states.

Roland Mouton says he knows the city probably has many people under house arrest, but he believes that considering the nature of the charges against Longmire, as well as the evidence against him, he should not be allowed to flaunt the terms of his release under house arrest. bail without it. being revoked.

“I just think that someone who shot and killed someone, that person should have been arrested immediately. I’m not saying this because he’s my brother. “I think in any case, or someone who is a suspected murderer,” he should be taken back into custody once he violates his bond, the pastor said.

Mouton said his family did not want Longmire to be given bail, but Texas law allows anyone on trial to post bail before trial.

Longmire’s trial was expected to begin in September, but his attorney, Carlos A. Rodriguez, asked the court for a postponement due to a conflict with a bribery case he is also working on, and it was granted.

Decision to postpone Longmire’s murder trial over bribery case could conflict with a new state law prioritizing murder trials that took effect in Texas on September 1, 2023.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said she hoped the law would help reduce the backlog of murder cases that has grown to more than 1,800 in recent years, but noted that evidence testing in crime labs of the area could counteract that impulse.

When asked by CP why the court had not allowed Longmire’s attorney to prioritize his murder trial over the bribery case, John Donnelly, a public information officer for the Harris County District Attorney’s office, said it was court decision. He further suggested that prosecutors were also conflicted.

In addition to a backlog of cases affecting the pace of Longmire’s trial, Fox 26 reported that his case was also delayed due to a change in his defense attorney and multiple bail reduction requests. Longmire reportedly posted bail in March 2023.

When asked what justice would look like for his family at this time, Mouton described seeing Longmire in custody and then convicting him of his brother’s murder and sentencing him to no less than 40 years in prison.

“If they give him less than 40 years, we’re not going to like that,” Mouton said. “My family wants it to be at least 50… but I’m willing to accept 40 because I know the system.”

He explained that since the murder of his twin brother, his family has not been the same.

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m not doing well and (the) only thing stopping me is that I have many years and faith as a pastor,” said Mouton, who has been a pastor for more than 36 years.

“It’s not going well for me because my twin and I were very close, very, very close. I don’t think his wife, I don’t think she’s doing well. They were married exactly 36 years. I just know that your children, your boys, are definitely not doing well. “It affected everything,” he continued.

“It affected that church, because our younger brother now pastors that church. That church is fighting because it was a death that took them by surprise and that simply didn’t make sense to anyone. He had just left the church, like 30 minutes before that guy shot him.

“No one is really doing well and people really need to know that. “We had just buried my mother in March of that year, he was killed in June and we were burying our older brother in November, all the same year,” Mouton added.

“That was a difficult year for this family; but we were able to handle the other deaths because we expected them. My mother had dementia. The older brother had suffered four strokes. “We knew they were going, but this untimely and sensitive shooting of my twin’s death was something no one saw or expected.”

Mouton also revealed that he has had many conversations with authorities and lawmakers about road rage. The main suggestion to solve it so far has been gun control, but he doesn’t think that’s a viable suggestion for now.

“We know that gun control is not going to exist. How long have we been trying to achieve gun control in this country? —Mouton asked.

“I have had many conversations with them, because it is something that happens very frequently in Houston, Texas, (…) it is almost a weekly thing, sometimes twice a week. I watch a lot of road rage movies. And I guess the thing is, there are so many unstable people today. Mentally (sick), people on drugs,” he explained.

“There are many facets that contribute to alleviating road rage. “You know, I don’t think it’s something they can control, because you can’t control guns,” he added. “I hate it. I hate that my brother said something to the guy that day, and that the guy told him everything he said to him. I guess now you just have to let people drive the way they do and, you know, be patient ”.