Bond set at $2 million for man accused of killing 12-year-old Carlos Fernandez

HOUSTON – The man accused of killing 12-year-old Carlos Fernandez appeared before a judge Wednesday morning and was given a $2 million bond.

Terry Bryan Rivera, 27, is in the Harris County Jail after he was arrested by border patrol agents while trying to cross back into the United States in Brownsville.

Rivera is charged with capital murder in the death of Fernandez, who was shot in his Cloverleaf apartment on March 4.

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The judge set Rivera’s bond at $2 million, but because of a state law, he is exempt from the death penalty.

“He’s not eligible for the death penalty on a case where he’s charged with killing a child between the ages of 10 and 15,” said Jamie Burrow with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

“The legislature decided to do that whenever they added the 10 to 15 range. That’s a question for the legislature as to why they did that,” Burrow said.

Seeking more clarification on this policy, KPRC 2′s Faith Braverman reached out to Andy Kahan, the Director of Victim Services and Advocacy with Crime Stoppers of Houston.

“Welcome to the world of logic and criminal justice. The two often don’t meet,” Kahan said.

Kahan has been closely following the Rivera case, and it was an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers that actually led to Rivera’s arrest.

Kahan has also closely followed the penal system in Texas for decades and called the policy allowing Rivera to escape the death penalty an “oxymoron.”

According to the Texas Legislature, anyone convicted of murdering a child 10 years old or younger is eligible for the death penalty. If a child is between the ages of 10 to 15 years old, people convicted of murder automatically become ineligible for the death penalty.

KPRC2 Reporter Corley Peel sat down with KPRC2 legal Analyst Brian Wice, asking how Rivera could still be charged with capital murder even though he is ineligible for the death penalty.

“There is capital murder where death is a possible punishment and capital murder where the other possible punishment is life without parole,” Wice said.

Wice said the maximum punishment Rivera faces upon conviction is life without parole.

Despite having a bond, Burrow said prosecutors are confident Rivera will stay locked up.

“If he were able to make his bond, to be clear, nobody thinks he’s really going to be able to make that bond,” Burrow said. “We would come back before he was released and address any bond conditions which we obviously would be asking for house arrest, ankle monitor, all the strictest conditions we could have on a case like this.”