Some question why murder suspect was released from Harris County Jail

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A murder suspect was allowed to walk out of the Harris County Jail hours before or after a murder charge was filed against him, based on conflicting accounts from authorities.

Charging documents show Johna Robinson was being eyed as a suspect in the murder of 52-year-old Terribia Dembry at a Willowbrook area apartment complex on Tuesday from the beginning.

Records show he was pulled over three hours after the murder and charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

The charging documents note the ongoing homicide investigation, and a hearing officer brings it up again during Robinson's bail hearing Tuesday night.

"Officers allege this was some type of homicide investigation. Your vehicle was listed as a suspect vehicle," the hearing officer said.

Robinson's bond was set at $75,000 on the gun charge. Records show he posted it on Thursday.

That same night, around 9 p.m., Houston police told Eyewitness News that a murder charge was filed against Dembry while he was still in custody.

The Harris County District Court Clerk's site, however, doesn't record the murder charge being filed until 4:15 a.m. Friday.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office confirmed to Eyewitness News that Dembry was released from custody at 1:55 a.m. Friday after bonding out on the weapons charge.

A warrant was subsequently issued for his arrest on the murder charge.

"This is an unforced error," said Brian Wice, a criminal defense attorney and legal analyst not affiliated with this case. "This is simply the left hand not telling the right hand what's going on."

"They dropped the ball," one of the victim's sisters told Eyewitness News by phone.

Eyewitness News has been asking the District Attorney's Office and the Harris County Sheriff's Office for answers, but so far, no one has explained why Robinson was allowed to post bond on the weapons charge when he was being investigated for murder.

Wice says law enforcement could have asked for an investigative hold to be placed on him, meaning he wouldn't have been able to get out of jail even after posting bond.

"Law enforcement can hold those individuals if they can show that the individual does not need to be in the free world unless and until that investigation is complete," said Wice.

Records show Robinson was twice convicted on federal drug trafficking charges: once in Florida in 2003 and again in Houston in 2022.

He was placed on five years' probation after his release from prison in 2024, which would have taken him to 2029.

But one week before the murder, a federal judge ended Robinson's probation three years early at Robinson's request.

Records show Robinson is not in custody as of Friday night.

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