A jury will decide the punishment for a 20-year-old who pleaded guilty to burglary in connection with the break-in and kidnapping of local lawyer Jim Sharon Bearden Jr.
Testimony for the punishment of German Adalid Jorjas-Benitez started Tuesday before 128th District Court Judge Courtney Arkeen. The procedure will continue on Wednesday.
Jorjas-Benitez was one of three men, all undocumented from Honduras, indicted for felony offenses in connection with the crime. The other two have pleaded not guilty.
Bearden had slept late at his house in Bridge City on May 8 when men broke inside for a burglary. After finding him, they held a gun at him, threatened him with a baseball bat, and tied him with electrical cords.
They later took him to a Port Arthur bank and forced him to empty his bank account. They then let him free. The lawyer had gained information from one of the kidnappers cell phone.
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