{"id":2118,"date":"2026-05-21T04:01:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118"},"modified":"2026-05-21T04:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:01:26","slug":"51-year-old-murder-defendant-agrees-to-plead-guilty-to-lesser-charge-wont-spend-one-day-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118","title":{"rendered":"51-year-old murder defendant agrees to plead guilty to lesser charge; won&#8217;t spend one day in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"<div> <!-- --> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>HARRIS COUNTY, Texas<\/strong> &#8211; <\/span>Relatives of Jessica Perry say they are furious and fearful after Jason Meinelt \u2014 the man who admitted assaulting Perry and causing her death \u2014 received eight years deferred probation instead of prison time. The sentencing is now drawing renewed scrutiny over a court filing in which Meinelt swore he had never been convicted of a felony, despite records indicating otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2116\">Texas man accused of secretly giving abortion medication to pregnant woman faces historic charges, prosecutors<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Breaking Bond: Murder defendant agrees to plead guilty to lesser charge, sentenced to probation<\/h2>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>What we know:<\/p>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>We did our first Breaking Bond report on Jason Meinelt in 2024. At that time, he was free on a personal recognizance bond when he murdered 50-year-old Jessica Perry.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>Last week, Meinelt plead guilty to assault of a family member causing death. He was sentenced to eight years deferred probation by 338th\u00a0Criminal Court Judge Michelle Onken.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- --> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>Jessica&#8217;s relatives aren&#8217;t happy with that sentence. Two of them agreed to talk with us as long as we didn&#8217;t identify them as they say they are afraid of Meinelt.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are extremely disappointed with the judge who made the decision on sentencing,&#8221; one relative said. &#8220;It makes me really sad for society. We let this criminal out, back out in the streets, to possibly do this to someone else when we could have prevented that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2114\">Acres Homes residents demand answers after abandoned RV sits for weeks on Victory Drive<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>Questions are now being raised about a court document in Meinelt&#8217;s file. He signed a motion for community supervision and swore he had never been convicted of a felony.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s not the case. FOX 26 asked the Harris County District Attorney&#8217;s Office about the document.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- --><\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson said she had no knowledge of the document but sent a statement, &#8220;Our prosecutors argued this defendant should face prison time for brutally assaulting Jessica Perry, recklessly causing her death. The judge sentenced him to eight years, deferred. Jessica\u2019s story shows the complex, escalating patterns of domestic abuse. As prosecutors, we will continue pushing for accountability in every case, while fighting for all domestic abuse victims, survivors, and their families who live with the ripple effect of tragedy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2112\">$14.7M in meth hidden in lettuce shipment seized at Texas border<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <!-- --> <!-- --> <!-- --> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The family of Jessica Perry says they are devastated and angry after the man who admitted assaulting her and causing her death was sentenced to deferred probation instead of prison time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,2,7,8,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-bond","category-crime-and-public-safety","category-harris-county","category-news","category-top-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>51-year-old murder defendant agrees to plead guilty to lesser charge; won&#039;t spend one day in prison - Houston Moving Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"51-year-old murder defendant agrees to plead guilty to lesser charge; won&#039;t spend one day in prison - Houston Moving Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The family of Jessica Perry says they are devastated and angry after the man who admitted assaulting her and causing her death was sentenced to deferred probation instead of prison time.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Houston Moving Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-21T04:01:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=2118#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=2118\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba\"},\"headline\":\"51-year-old murder defendant agrees to plead guilty to lesser charge; won&#8217;t spend one day in prison\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T04:01:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=2118\"},\"wordCount\":406,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=2118#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a270a3800c8265f9e945108c81a00dc9.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Breaking Bond\",\"Crime and Public Safety\",\"Harris County\",\"News\",\"Top Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=2118#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=2118\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=2118\",\"name\":\"51-year-old murder defendant agrees to plead guilty to lesser charge; won't spend one day in prison - Houston Moving Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=2118#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=2118#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a270a3800c8265f9e945108c81a00dc9.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T04:01:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=2118#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=2118\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=2118#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a270a3800c8265f9e945108c81a00dc9.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a270a3800c8265f9e945108c81a00dc9.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=2118#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"51-year-old murder defendant agrees to plead guilty to lesser charge; won&#8217;t spend one day in prison\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Houston Moving Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"51-year-old murder defendant agrees to plead guilty to lesser charge; won't spend one day in prison - Houston Moving Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"51-year-old murder defendant agrees to plead guilty to lesser charge; won't spend one day in prison - Houston Moving Journal","og_description":"The family of Jessica Perry says they are devastated and angry after the man who admitted assaulting her and causing her death was sentenced to deferred probation instead of prison time.","og_url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118","og_site_name":"Houston Moving Journal","article_published_time":"2026-05-21T04:01:26+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba"},"headline":"51-year-old murder defendant agrees to plead guilty to lesser charge; won&#8217;t spend one day in prison","datePublished":"2026-05-21T04:01:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118"},"wordCount":406,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a270a3800c8265f9e945108c81a00dc9.webp","articleSection":["Breaking Bond","Crime and Public Safety","Harris County","News","Top Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118","url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118","name":"51-year-old murder defendant agrees to plead guilty to lesser charge; won't spend one day in prison - Houston Moving Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a270a3800c8265f9e945108c81a00dc9.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-21T04:01:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a270a3800c8265f9e945108c81a00dc9.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a270a3800c8265f9e945108c81a00dc9.webp","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=2118#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"51-year-old murder defendant agrees to plead guilty to lesser charge; won&#8217;t spend one day in prison"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/","name":"Houston Moving Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com"],"url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}