I m a Texas judge A defendant shot me That shouldn t happen houstonchronicle.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from houstonchronicle.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)
(CN) Ruling against a Texas man convicted for his leadership role in carrying out fraud and racketeering schemes that included the attempted murder of a Texas state judge, the Fifth Circuit held Wednesday that his own testimony placed him in the judge’s Austin neighborhood.
Cheimene Hamilton Onyeri is serving a life sentence after a federal jury found him guilty of all 17 counts of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, violations – ranging from mail fraud and bribery of a public official to identity theft and attempted murder.
Trial evidence showed that Onyeri and his co-conspirators ran a criminal enterprise in Austin, Houston and Louisiana from 2011 to 2015 that converted debit card numbers skimmed from devices into cash, using the U.S. mail. Emboldened by their successes, Onyeri and company expanded their enterprise to include stealing identities and debit card fraud, until they were arrested.