District Attorney Micheal Murray reported that on Wednesday, October 19, 2022, Juan Manuel Santiago Negron, 20, was convicted of Aggravated Robbery, Burglary of a Habitation, Cruelty to a Non-Livestock Animal, and Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle in the 35th Judicial District Court of Brown County. Judge Sam Moss sentenced Negron to serve forty years in prison.

The sentence followed a full-day punishment trial, in which Negron pled guilty to breaking into a Brownwood home with two other men on January 30, 2020. While in the home, the three robbed an elderly woman at gunpoint. When the victim’s dog began barking, Negron stabbed him six times with a pocket knife. The woman was injured when one of the men struck her in the head with a handgun.

Justin Taylor, the first Brownwood Police officer on scene, and Kimberly Holland, the detective who investigated the case, both testified at the trial. The three were arrested that same night after Holland followed their footprints in the dew to Negron’s home. The knife and firearm were both found hidden beneath a dryer in the home.

The victim’s daughter testified about the trauma caused by the robbery, and how it continues to impact their family to this day. One ofNegron’s co-defendants, Octavian Torrez, testified to explain their plans that day and how Negron stabbed the dog and struck the victim in the head with a pistol. Torrez is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for his role in the robbery.

Negron’s attorney cited his psychiatric issues and his difficult childhood as mitigating the crime, and asked the Judge for probation. Judge Moss denied this request and sentenced Negron to forty years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for Aggravated Robbery and Burglary of a Habitation, as well as the maximum often years for Cruelty to a Non­Livestock animal and the maximum of two years for Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle.

Negron will not be eligible for parole until he completes the first twenty years of his sentence.