The man linked to the death of 4-year-old Maleah Davis was given a $45,000 bond amount on Wednesday for the latest charge lodged against him in the case.
Prosecutors asked 180th state District Court Judge DaSean Jones for a $100,000 bond on the first-degree felony injury to a child charge filed Monday against Derion Vence, who’s already sitting in the Harris County Jail on a felony tampering with a corpse charge in lieu of another $45,000 bond
In arguing for the higher bond, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said Vence showed “violent tendencies” when he allegedly beat Maleah earlier this year. The injury to a child charge doesn’t explicitly allege that Vence killed Maleah; it claims he caused her serious bodily injury by either hitting her with his hands, hitting her with a blunt object, causing her to fall to the floor or causing her to strike a blunt object.
After ordering Vence’s bond at $45,000, Jones told prosecutors in court that the lower amount was appropriate for the allegations.
“If it’s a murder, file it as a murder,” Jones said.
Prosecutors have yet to charge Vence with murder and for now, are relying on the injury to a child charge to send him to prison.
“Prosecutors only have to prove he intended to seriously injure her, not that he intended to kill her,” Harris County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Dane Schiller said. He also said that additional charges are always possible.
The injury charge can carry the same punishment as murder, anywhere from five to 99 years or life in prison should he be convicted.
The similar punishment can make all the difference for a prosecutor, said one criminal defense attorney.
“The net effect is lowering the burden of proof for the prosecution,” said criminal defense lawyer E. Tay Bond, who is not involved in the case.
After a flock of Maleah supporters left the courtroom, Vence’s defense attorney – former prosecutor Dorian Cotlar – vehemently refused to answer questions posed by half a dozen reporters as he waited for an elevator on the 19th floor of the Harris County Criminal Courts building courtroom in downtown Houston. He eventually flagged down a pair of bailiffs and claimed he was being harassed and pushed by the members of the media.
The bailiffs escorted him to a private room behind the courtroom.
After prosecutors filed the additional charge Monday, Cotlar declined to comment in detail but released a statement.
“(Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg) has not made a decision based on public rage or television media sensationalism,” Cotlar said. “She and her assistants are doing their job and we will continue to do ours.”
While Vence wasn’t present in the courtroom, supporters for Maleah were there to watch the developments unfold. Flanked by supporters sporting “Justice For Maleah” T-shirts, Maleah’s cousin Tamisha Mendoza said she was disappointed at the bond amount and the fact that Vence wasn’t required to show up.
“You’re steady in pushing court dates, you’re steady in lowering bonds,” Mendoza said. “Hell, if that’s the case, just let him out and let the streets deal with it.”
Vence, 27, now has a total bond amount of $90,000 on both the injury to a child and tampering charges.
The latter charge led to Vence’s May 11 arrest that followed Maleah’s disappearance a week earlier. He reported her missing from a Sugar Land hospital May 4, telling authorities that she was abducted by three men who attacked them and his young son on the side of the road near Bush Intercontinental Airport. Maleah’s disappearance sparked a citywide search that intensified as authorities began to unravel Vence’s version of what happened.
Court documents show investigators found blood believed to be of Maleah’s in the apartment where Vence was caught on surveillance footage on May 3 carrying a heavy laundry basket. The same apartment is where investigators found evidence that someone tried to clean up the blood.
While in custody at the Harris County Jail, Vence allegedly told fellow inmate David Chalfant, and days later, activist Quanell X, that Maleah’s body could be found in a trash bag on the side of the road near Hope, Ark. Authorities found her remains along a highway hours after the bag was hit by a lawn mower.
In a jailhouse interview, Chalfant, who has since been transferred to a state corrections facility in Huntsville, said that Vence also revealed to him how Maleah was hurt. Vence and the girl were playing when she fell and hit her head on a table, the inmate said.
Staff writers Nicole Hensley, Julian Gill and Michelle Iracheta contributed to this report.
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