CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) -
Judge Thomas Greenwell refused to lower the bond for a father and his daughter accused of the killing of Jesus Quintanilla.
Quintanilla was Chastity Longbine's boyfriend. He ended up shot to death on May 13. Longbine was arrested for the crime, but then her father, Dennis Longbine, admitted to Kiii News that he had fired the fatal shot that killed Quintanilla.
The Longbines asked the judge to lower their $250,000 bond on Thursday. The judge listened to the defense attorney's arguments for lowering the bond, and the prosecutor's belief that $250,000 was a fair bond considering the crime the Longbines are charged with.
Dennis Longbine was the first to enter court and sat in the jury box. His daughter Chastity was then brought in. Both have been in jail since the May shooting.
Their defense attorneys told the judge they were simply defending themselves against Chastity's boyfriend, Quintanilla. They said the medical examiner ruled that Quintanilla had a high level of methamphetamine in his bloodstream.
They also said that Quintanilla, at one time, had been sentenced to five years in jail by the military for rape and sodomy.
The defense maintained that the Longbines were defending themselves against Quintanilla, who they said did not live with Chastity Longbine and had no reason to be at her house on the day of the shooting.
In the end, the judge said the bond was justified for a murder case, and the two defendants were led back to their cells.
"She's breathing. My brother's not," said Karina Quintanilla, the victim's sister. "What he did, fine, he did. No one is perfect. No one can judge us but God. No one."
Quintanilla's family said that, on the day of the fatal shooting, the Longbines had come over to his aunt's house and picked him up and brought him back to their home.
In court, there was testimony that Chastity and Quintanilla had a violent relationship, and a number of 911 calls had been made to police in the week prior to the killing.
It was also found that Quintanilla had been shot five times, not once as Dennis Longbine had said back on May 15. At that time, he said he had taken the gun out of Quintanilla's hand and fired one shot to his throat.
As a matter of fact, police said they found two weapons at the scene, and that Quintanilla had been shot by a 9mm pistol and a .22 pistol.
No trial date has been set in this case.
