UPDATE July 26, 2012: SMITH COUNTY (TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH) - Defendant Jamon Taylor this morning pleaded guilty to a charge of engaging in criminal behavior. The plea, agreed to with the prosecution, puts an end to the trial which had begun Wednesday.
Taylor was sentenced to 35 years on the first-degree felony. The robbery charge was dropped. Nazir Kazmi, the victim of the crime, agreed to the terms of the plea deal.
SMITH COUNTY (TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH) - The trial for a 17-year-old charged with beating a Tyler convenience store owner in the face and robbing him of cigarettes began this morning in the Smith County 241st District Court.
Nazir Kazmi, the 63-year-old store owner who was beaten and robbed of cigarettes inside of his Conoco store in January, identified Jamon Taylor, 18, as the man who hit him during the robbery.
Kazmi, who has since closed his store, said his face was bloodied and his glasses were knocked from his face broken.
Prosecutor Jason Parrish told jurors that Taylor is a member of a street gang called the North Side Crips.
Defense attorney Hunter Brush declined making an opening statement.
The case against Taylor, of Tyler, had been set to begin two weeks ago, but was delayed because the store owner, Kazir Kazmi, had returned to his native Pakistan, without telling the District Attorney's Office, prosecutors said. Kazmi's brother had died unexpectedly from a heart attack in Pakistan, Smith County Assistant District Attorney Jason Parrish said July 10.
Kazmi has now returned to the U.S., according to information received from Judge Jack Skeen Jr.'s office. Skeen told Parrish two weeks ago that if Kazmi did not return, that he would release Taylor on a personal recognizance bond.
Taylor is charged with engaging in organized criminal behavior and remains in the Smith County jail on a $550,000 bond. The robbery took place Jan. 27 at the Conoco convenience store at Van Highway and West Gentry Parkway, said Don Martin, Tyler police spokesman.
According to the February arrest affidavit for Taylor, the defendant "while in the course of committing theft of property and with intent to obtain or maintain control of said property, intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly caused bodily injury to Nazir Kazmi by striking Kazmi in the face with his fist and then stealing . . . cigarettes … as a member of a criminal street gang."
Martin identified three other suspects in the robbery as Steven Ray Sadler, 18; Michael Avory Hayles, 17; and Prince Kentrell Hull, 18.
Sadler is in the Smith County Jail on Tuesday on bonds totaling $805,000 on charges of robbery, evading arrest and engaging in organized criminal activity. Hayles, 18, is jailed on charges of robbery and engaging in organized criminal activity on bonds totaling $550,000, and Hull, 19, is jailed on robbery and engaging in organized criminal activity charges on bonds totaling $550,000.
