AUSTIN — A man accused of fatally beating a Central Texas woman and kidnapping her daughters has been sentenced to life in federal prison.

Forty-five-year-old Terry Allen Miles was convicted in February of several charges, including two counts of kidnapping. He was sentenced Tuesday.

Authorities discovered the body of the woman during a welfare check at the home she shared with Miles in Round Rock near Austin in December 2017, after she didn’t turn up to work.

Investigators have said Miles fled with the girls, then aged 7 and 14, and sheriff’s deputies caught up with them a few days later in Colorado. They said Miles had been sexually assaulting the teenager for five months.

Authorities believe Miles beat the woman to death but he has not been charged in her death.

 

Former prison sergeant
on trial in inmate’s death

ROSHARON — A former Texas prison sergeant is slated to stand trial, accused of throwing a handcuffed prisoner onto a concrete floor so viciously that the inmate died.

Lou Joffrion slammed inmate David Witt in August 2017 in an attack that was captured on video at the Darrington Unit in Rosharon, south of Houston.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Joffrion will stand trial in September on an aggravated assault charge.

State officials say Joffrion had just weeks before completed six months of disciplinary probation for another violent encounter with the 41-year-old Witt.

Prison officials Monday condemned Joffrion’s conduct but noted a powerful painkiller in the slain inmate’s blood as a possible cause of the altercation.

Officials didn’t report Witt’s death as a homicide until the full autopsy was completed a year later.

 

American Airlines cuts
bag fees for some gear

FORT WORTH — American Airlines says it’s cutting the cost of checking oversized sporting gear and musical instruments on flights.

American said Tuesday that it eliminated the extra oversize charge for those items and instead will charge regular bag fees, which are lower.

Before Tuesday, a passenger who checked a big item like a surfboard or snowboard on a domestic flight would pay $150.

The airline says that will now cost $30, the fee for checking one bag.

Travelers will still be charged $150 for some items including antlers and scuba tanks, and extra fees also apply to gear weighing more than 50 pounds.

American says it’s tweaking fees after hearing from customers and employees.

 

Retrial for teen charged
with killing parents

HOUSTON — A Texas teenager is set to be tried again on capital murder charges in the shooting deaths of his mother and his father, who was a standout linebacker for Texas A&M University before having a short NFL career.

The Harris County district attorney’s office says 19-year-old Antonio Armstrong Jr. is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 4.

A judge declared a mistrial in Armstrong’s case in April after a jury failed to reach a unanimous decision on whether the then-16-year-old shot Antonio and Dawn Armstrong in 2016 inside their townhome. Prosecutors say they look forward to presenting the evidence to a new jury.

Armstrong’s lawyer, Rick DeToto, says his client is innocent.

The elder Armstrong was a first-team All-American and played briefly for the San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins.

 

See also: TEXAS ROUNDUP: Transgender woman in video of attack dead