In June 2022, beloved Pastor Ronald K. Mouton Sr. was shot and killed in an apparent road rage incident. The suspect is currently free on a $500,000 bond. But the victim’s family continues to grieve and await the trial—now set for three years after Mouton’s death—that will hopefully bring justice and closure.
“I know we have to have patience and wait on a backed up system,” Mouton’s twin brother told ABC13. “Losing my brother was very important to me.”
Family Decries 3-Year Trial Delay After Murder of Beloved Pastor Ronald K. Mouton
A family, church, and community lost a beloved pastor in an apparent road rage shooting. Mouton was driving alongside another car on the Gulf Freeway in Houston, and the two drivers were arguing. A witness reported the other driver extended his hand, holding a pistol, outside the car window and shot the pastor, according to Click 2 Houston. Nearby surveillance footage showed a man running back and forth on the sidewalk before Mouton crashed his white car.
One month after Mouton’s shooting, Deshawn Longmire, an Uber driver, was charged with the murder. Police identified the man running back and forth on surveillance footage as Longmire.
Longmire originally told law enforcement that he wasn’t in the area at the time of the murder. But Uber records showed that Longmire was, in fact, at the location at the time of the incident.
Longmire’s trial was initially set for September 2024 but was delayed and set for April 2025. The recent postponement was due to a scheduling conflict with the defense attorney.
The family is frustrated with the trial delay, which the Harris County District Attorney’s office blamed on COVID-19 and Hurricane Harvey. The trial is set to begin in April 2025, nearly three years after Mouton was killed.
This isn’t the only trial experiencing delays. ABC13 reported that at the 208th District Court—the court handling Mouton’s case—34% of cases have been pending for more than a year. However, the National Center for State Courts states that 98% of felony cases—such as this one—should be settled within a year.
RELATED: Gateway Church Applying To Join ECFA Amid Class Action Lawsuit Over Allegedly Misallocated Funds
“It ain’t about not understanding death or not understanding that in this life, we leave one another. I get all of that,” Mouton’s twin brother told ABC13. “But to know that his killer has the freedom he has to be around this long, going on three years before it even goes to trial, while we’re suffering to see the end of this, that’s the part that hurts my family more than anything.”
