Acquitted Bryan Sexual Assault Suspect Now Faces Perjury, Child Porn Charges

A Houston man acquitted of sexually assaulting and kidnapping a woman near Texas A&M's campus was back in a Bryan courtroom this week, this time pleading not guilty to aggravated perjury and possession of child pornography. Timothy Randall, 34, entered his pleas Wednesday, months after a jury cleared him of the original 2020 charges that first drew statewide attention to his case.

The new perjury indictment stems from Randall's March trial, in which he was accused of kidnapping a woman and sexually assaulting her, according to KBTX News 3. Randall was ultimately found not guilty of both the kidnapping and sexual assault charges. But according to the new indictment, Randall changed his story while testifying on the witness stand, telling jurors he had never touched the woman sexually before, later saying that he and the woman had consensual sex.

Because Randall was acquitted at trial, prosecutors cannot retry him on the underlying kidnapping and sexual assault allegations under double jeopardy protections. Instead, the case now hinges on Texas Penal Code Section 37.06, a statute that lets prosecutors prove aggravated perjury simply by showing a defendant made two conflicting statements under oath that cannot both be true — without having to prove which one was actually false.

Backstory Rooted in a Campus-Wide Alert

The case dates back to November 2020, when Randall was first arrested following an incident near Texas A&M's campus that triggered a campus-wide Code Maroon emergency alert, according to WTAW. The alert set off an hours-long, multi-agency search involving campus police, local officers, and state troopers, which ended when Randall was located hiding in a wooded area near the university observatory after allegedly fleeing from officers.

A Brazos County Grand Jury indicted Randall in February 2021 on six counts, including sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping, three counts of evading arrest, and misdemeanor assault, with his bond set at $365,000. As reported by KAGS-TV, prosecutors alleged Randall forced a woman into his vehicle near Hensel Street before she managed to escape and call police.

What Randall Faces Now

Aggravated perjury in Texas is a third-degree felony under Penal Code Section 37.03, occurring when someone intentionally makes a material false statement under oath during or in connection with an official proceeding. A conviction carries a potential sentence of two to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000, per the Law Offices of Tim Powers. Under Texas law, a statement is considered legally material if it could have affected the outcome of the proceeding — regardless of whether it actually swayed the jury's verdict.

The separate possession of child pornography charge Randall faces is also a third-degree felony under Texas Penal Code Section 43.26 for a first-time offense, carrying the same range of two to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. No further information has been released about that charge.

There is a narrow legal escape hatch for witnesses who contradict themselves on the stand: Texas law provides a statutory recantation defense, but it applies only if the witness retracts the false statement during the same proceeding before its falsity is exposed or before it substantially affects the outcome. Retractions made under cross-examination or after the inconsistency is already exposed generally don't qualify.

Trial Timing Remains Unsettled

No official trial date has been set. Randall's defense has requested a speedy trial and is aiming for October, but both the defense and prosecution are currently waiting on the certified transcript from the March trial before scheduling can move forward. Producing certified court reporter transcripts from a multi-day felony trial routinely takes several months, a common source of delay in post-acquittal perjury prosecutions.

Prosecutors have said the perjury and child pornography cases could ultimately be split into separate proceedings. Per prosecutors, the state hopes to conclude the case before trial specifically to avoid requiring the survivor to testify again. That approach lines up with a broader pattern in Texas criminal procedure, where prosecutors handling perjury cases tied to prior sexual assault acquittals often pursue plea deals or separated trials to spare survivors the trauma of repeated public testimony.