A 51-year-old Houston man's string of violent crimes has come to a decisive end as he has been sentenced to over 30 years for two armed robberies in which he traumatized the city and shot a store clerk.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, after only about two hours of deliberation following a three-day trial, Hezron Benjamin Stuart was convicted on March 15, now in the U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal decreed that Stuart will spend 128 months for the robberies plus an additional 120 months for each firearm charge; those must be served consecutively, totaling 368 months of incarceration to be followed by five years of supervised release. U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani underlined the hazardous life Stuart led, saying, "Mr. Stuart spent his entire life committing violent crimes in our city; in multiple armed robberies, he shot a gun and seriously injured a store clerk. This sentence will ensure the citizens of Houston are protected from his brazen criminal conduct in the future."
May 18, 2019, marked the beginning of Stuart's rampage with the robbery of the Corner Food Mart on Mangum Street, where he fired his weapon, escalating his spree to the Citgo Gas Station on South Loop East five days later, where he resorted to shooting the clerk when they resisted. Stuart argued his innocence during the trial, representing himself and claiming mistaken identity, but his fingerprints found at the Citgo Gas Station and the testimony of the victims, including the injured clerk who identified Stuart, swayed the jury against him.
The investigation was a coordinated effort by the ATF Houston Crime Gun Strike Force, a joint partnership between ATF and HPD aimed at tackling the increased firearm-related crimes; the FBI lent their support along with the Houston Police Department and the Houston Forensic Science Center. These agencies put together the pieces leading to Stuart's arrest, culminating in a conviction spearheaded by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carolyn Ferko and Britni Cooper, ensuring that Stuart remains confined awaiting a transfer to a federal prison.
