Thursday, February 6, 1997
Jury sentences man to life for prison murder
By LORETTA FULTON / Regional Editor
ANSON - After three years of wondering whether her brother's
death would be avenged, Ann Sanchez has her answer.
A 259th District Court jury last week found Eugene Hernon,
29, guilty of murdering Frank Elias, 38, on Dec. 26, 1993, and
sentenced him to life in prison.
Both men were inmates at the French Robertson Unit of the Texas
Department of Corrections in Jones County when the incident occurred.
Hernon still is incarcerated, and his life sentence will begin
at the conclusion of the 45-year sentence, said Warden Ron Drewry.
When Elias was found dead, apparently strangled with boot laces,
Drewry said suicide or accidental self-strangulation were possible
causes. No official ruling was made while results of an autopsy
were pending.
However, Sanchez believed officials had called the death a
suicide, and she has worked since then to set the record straight.
"I think being on top of it made a difference," said
Sanchez, who lives and works in Stamford. "I stuck by it
three years."
Now that an inmate has been found guilty of her brother's death,
Sanchez can rest easier.
"Justice has been served on the man," she said. "Jones
County doesn't let 'em get away with it."
Drewry was pleased with the conviction and closure of the case,
but he disagreed with Sanchez' belief the prison system owed her
an apology.
"We worked hard to get that conviction," Drewry said,
emphasizing that prison officials never said the death was a suicide.
"We announced we were looking at the possibility it was
a suicide," he said.
Sanchez said she heard through the news media that the death
had been labeled a suicide, but she blamed Drewry and other prison
officials for the statements.
Drewry said he thinks the only thing officials mishandled was
the notification process. Sanchez said she was called by the prison
chaplain who wouldn't tell her exactly what had happened.
"Nobody ever told me nothing on it," she said. "It
inflamed me very much that they had not said anything to me,"
she said.
Drewry said changes have been made as a result of the incident.
"It caused us to be a little more concerned about the
impact on the family," he said. "This incident caused
us to be a little more sensitive."
Drewry said an institution as large as the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice must have procedures to follow, but "sometimes
they're rather impersonal. After our dealings in this situation,
we've tried to personalize ours a little bit."
Elias, of Stamford, was serving a 30-year sentence for aggravated
assault and aggravated kidnapping. Hernon was serving a 45-year
sentence for burglary of a habitation and escape.
In a 1994 <I>Reporter-News<I> article, after investigators
determined the death was a murder, Drewry said Elias was not the
intended victim.
"He got the wrong guy," Drewry said in the article.
Drewry said prison investigators believed Elias was strangled
because another inmate thought Elias had told prison officials
about possible illegal activities.
Sanchez said her brother died knowing he was loved by his family.
"We visited him on Christmas Day," the day before
he died, she said. "He was in good spirits."
Although Sanchez doesn't take full credit for bringing her
brother's killer to trial, she believes her perseverance made
some impact. She thinks her brother would be proud of her efforts
on his behalf.
"He would be very glad I proceeded with it," she
said.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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