A Texas judge declined to hold a man in custody after his conviction last week on aggravated assault charges, and now the felon is on the run after he didn’t show up for the punishment phase of his trial.
A Travis County jury took just three hours on March 28 to find 56-year-old Hai Vo guilty of raping a 24-year-old woman with cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy in January 2020, KVUE reported.
The Texas judge, however, refused to remand him to custody before the punishment phase the next day.
“It is disappointing that the victim and their family must continue to wait for the defendant to be held accountable after our team secured his conviction,” Travis County DA José Garza said.
Judge Bob Perkins, who declined to put Vo in jail overnight, told KTBC that Vo had showed up for all his other court appearances so he so no reason to assume he wouldn’t come back to court on Friday.
“When a defendant knows that they are likely facing a significant amount of prison time, our concern is that the risk is heightened, that they may be a flight risk,” Garza said. “That is why we requested that this defendant be remanded into custody.”
Without the convicted felon present, the jury on Friday sentenced him to 10 years in prison. A warrant has been issued for his arrest, and the district attorney’s office said law enforcement is “actively” looking for him.
