Montague killer gets 2nd life sentence

Fort Worth Star Telegram ^ | 11/14/02 | Angela K. Brown

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MONTAGUE - A convicted killer received a second life sentence Wednesday, this time for stealing a getaway car after he and three other inmates broke out of the Montague County Jail.

Charles William Jordan, 31, pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery for overpowering a jailer and stealing her vehicle in the Jan. 28 jailbreak that triggered a 10-day nationwide manhunt.

He had been sentenced Friday to life behind bars after pleading guilty to capital murder in the Nov. 23 death of Ullain Christmas, 79, whose rings were stolen. Her husband, James, 76, was shot, and their bodies were found in a shallow grave on their Montague County land Nov. 26.

Jordan's guilty pleas Friday and Wednesday were part of a deal with prosecutors, who dropped the murder charge in James Christmas' death and the jail escape charge. The life terms will be served consecutively, so Jordan will be eligible for parole in 70 years.

Montague County District Attorney Tim Cole had sought the death penalty, but he agreed to the plea bargain Friday as the jury's deliberations approached five hours.

Jurors sent messages to the judge, saying they were deadlocked and wanted the definition of reasonable doubt, about three hours into their deliberations.

Because jurors were struggling to reach a unanimous verdict of guilty in the capital murder charge, they probably would not have handed down the death penalty, Cole said.

"It was better for us to plead and get two consecutive life terms," Cole said Wednesday.

The five-day murder trial had been moved to Fort Worth, about 100 miles southeast of Montague, because of publicity.

Jordan, of St. Charles, Mo., traveled to Montague County in the fall of 2001 with his girlfriend, Chrystal Soto, and the victims' grandson, Willie Christmas.

When the elderly couple asked the trio to leave their house near Bowie the day after Thanksgiving after complaints of rowdy behavior, Jordan shot James and repeatedly hit Ullain in the head with the shotgun. Jordan told police the man's shooting was accidental.

Willie Christmas told prosecutors that he saw Jordan standing over the couple's bodies in the house. But Christmas testified during Jordan's murder trial that he saw Soto smothering the struggling woman with a pillow.

Soto, 23, and Christmas, 18, were indicted on charges of theft and tampering with evidence but not murder. Their trial dates have not been set.

Jordan, Soto and two other inmates broke out of jail in January and were caught 10 days later at an Ardmore, Okla., convenience store.

The other two escapees were Curtis Gambill and Joshua Bagwell, who were serving life sentences for the 1996 murder of a Waurika, Okla., high school cheerleader, Heather Rich. They had been in the Montague County Jail several weeks awaiting further proceedings in that case.

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I don't care what the jury said, I still suspect those damn Capulets.

[AnAmericanMother]

Reminds me of a true story.

A famous "hanging judge" in south Georgia sentenced a man to FIVE consecutive 99-year terms.

Defendant: "Judge, I'll never make it."

Judge: "Just do the best you can, son, just do the best you can."

Courtroom would have broken up, but for the fact that the Judge was an ex-Texas Ranger and stern soul who kept two .44 Bulldog revolvers on the bench (and used one for a gavel.) They just don't make 'em like they used to!

My father was in the courtroom at the time.