A rescheduled pretrial hearing is on the books for Raul Meza, Jr., the man facing charges for multiple murders, including the deaths of his 80-year-old roommate Jesse Fraga and Gloria Lofton in separate incidents. The hearing was pushed to August 27 after Meza did not appear in court for the initially planned date, as reported by CBS Austin.
Convicted in the 1980s for the murder of 8-year-old Kendra Page, Meza served only 10 years of a 30-year sentence. Previously, during the 1970s, Meza, as a teenager, received a 20-year sentence for shooting an Austin convenience store clerk but only served four. These past convictions are coming back to haunt Meza, with police now linking him to up to 10 cold cases spanning 25 years. The death penalty is a possible outcome for the capital murder charge he faces in Lofton's death, according to CBS Austin.
Furthermore, Meza's attorneys have proposed a plea deal that would have him serve 50 years for the recent murders. This plea aims to spare the distress of a trial for Meza and the victims' families. KVUE reports that Meza "would like to avoid the necessity of dragging all the facts of that out into the open," citing his defense attorney. Family members of the victims, renowned for their presence in the courtroom, have not found solace in the plea deal offer. Christina Fultz, Lofton's daughter, insists on a trial, determined to "outlive that man." She was found in the courtroom, as affirmed by her statement obtained by KVUE, "I do it for them. That's my family."
On the strategy behind the plea deal, criminal defense attorney Marc Chavez explained to KVUE that it relates to parole eligibility, where Meza "would be eligible in 25 rather than the 30 years of the 60-year sentence." Tracy Page, the sister of Kendra Page, voiced her anguish over the deal, as per KVUE, "It kept me from not wanting to go up there and just choke him myself because of what he did to all these people and all these families that have to go through this." Her rejection of the plea echoes a wider community sentiment seeking justice beyond a negotiated sentence.
