Victim's mother outraged by teen killer's prompt parole: 'I don't see no justice'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The mother of a murdered Houston man is speaking out days after Eyewitness News highlighted his killer's prompt parole.

Benny Simmons was released from juvenile prison on parole just two years and three months after his 2022 conviction for the murder of 21-year-old Shaka Haywood.

"Two-and-a-half years? I don't see no justice in the justice system at all," Haywood's mother, Deidra Stewart, said.

Since our initial report on Wednesday, Eyewitness News has learned Simmons was just 14 when he murdered Haywood at his southwest Houston apartment on Nov. 5, 2021.

"My son woke up out his sleep to open the door for this boy to come in there and play on his games," Stewart said.

Instead of playing video games, police say Simmons robbed and fatally shot Haywood before retreating to a nearby apartment and ordering pizza.

A search warrant Eyewitness News obtained notes the 10 spent shell casings and empty money band investigators found near Haywood's bullet-riddled body.

Police interviewed Simmons the day of the murder, and he told them he was already on probation for a series of robberies.

A week later, he was arrested and charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery.

Despite the seriousness of the offense, Simmons was tried as a juvenile and not an adult.

In September 2022, Judge Leah Shapiro sentenced him to 20 years in the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.

"I was just enraged over 20 years. You know what I'm saying? I didn't know. Was it a plea deal or what but they were saying that that was the most they could give him," Stewart said.

In Texas, the maximum sentence for juveniles convicted of capital murder is 40 years.

But Simmons says the greatest injustice came last December, when Simmons was released on parole.

"They just let him out like he just did nothing, you know what I'm saying? and I'm just not understanding how, like why?" Stewart said.

It's possible Simmons got up to 10 months credit for time served, but impossible to know for sure since juvenile criminal records are sealed.

But even if Simmons served a total of three years in prison, it's still short of the minimum of 10 years someone convicted of capital murder would need to have served to be eligible for parole.

Because juvenile records aren't public, it's unclear if the capital murder charge was downgraded as part of a plea agreement.

"I was so disappointed. I went through the whole trial and everything. I was totally disappointed," Stewart said.

Just three months after Simmons' release from prison, he found himself in trouble again.

Police say that on April 3 he knocked down an 81-year-old woman at her Alief apartment complex and stole her keys.

At the time, he was 17 and thus charged as an adult with aggravated robbery on the elderly.

It's an enhanced charge that comes with a possible life sentence.

"He's constantly doing the same thing. When are they gonna realize that he is not fit to be out here in these streets?" Stewart said.

On Wednesday, Simmons celebrated his 18th birthday in the Harris County Jail and remains there Saturday.

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