Dillon was 1 of 10 youths convicted in the murder of the gay Houston man in 91; told court he removed ankle bracelet because of frustration
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Paul Chance Dillon, one of 10 men accused of beating and stabbing to death 27-year-old gay Houston banker Paul Broussard in 1991, has been sent back to prison for violating parole, according to a Wednesday, Jan. 21 report in The Spring Observer, the newspaper in Spring, Texas.
Dillon will now be returned to the Texas prison system to continue serving his original sentence, which will be complete on Nov. 19, 2011.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles made the decision to send Dillon back to prison on Jan. 16, saying that he had violated the conditions of his parole by cutting off his ankle bracelet and leaving his mother’s home in Spring on Dec. 3, the newspaper reported.
During a Jan. 6 hearing at the Harris County Jail, Dillon told the hearing officer he had been having financial difficulties and was "dealing with a lot of frustration" the day he cut off the ankle bracelet and left.
"I made a poor decision and have no excuse for reacting the way I did," he said, according to The Observer.
Broussard, a Houston-area banker, was 27 when he was beaten and stabbed to death in a gay-bashing outside a Houston nightclub on July 4, 1991 by a group of 10 teenage boys. One of the youths later told authorities the group had driven into the gay neighborhood of Montrose from their homes in The Woodlands, a suburb north of Houston, specifically to "beat up some queers." They kicked Broussard with steel-toed boots and beat him with their fists at boards studded with nails. One of the attackers, Jon Buice, also stabbed Broussard with a knife.
Buice later admitted inflicting what the medical examiner said was the fatal stab wound, and he received the stiffest sentence: 45 years in prison.
Dillon, who at 22 was the oldest of the 10, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempted murder and attempted aggravated murder. Derrick Attard received probation for agreeing to identify the other nine, and four more of the attackers also received probation. The other three were each sentenced to 15 years and one day.
Attard and one of the others who received probation were eventually sent to prison for violating the terms of their probation.
Dillon was the first of the attackers to be released, being given parole in March 2000 due to a mandatory release law that was repealed in 1996. All but Buice have also since been paroled, and Buice is scheduled for a parole hearing this spring.
This latest incident was the second time Dillon had removed the monitoring device and tried to run away. His parole was revoked
Dillon’s Dec. 3 disappearance was at least the second time that he had removed his monitoring device and fled from supervision, according to The Observer. He had his parole revoked in 2007 for removing the ankle bracelet and throwing it into a Dumpster, and was sent back to prison for six months. According to Andy Kahan with the city of Houston’s Crime Victims’ office, Dillon couldn’t be kept then for the duration of his 20-year sentence because he had been released under the mandatory release law.
Dillon’s fiancée and a friend both testified on his behalf at the Jan. 6 hearing, saying that he was trying to stay on the right track but needed counseling.
But Nancy Rodriguez, Paul Broussard’s mother, sent a letter to the hearing officer saying she fears for her safety every time Dillon goes on the run, The Observer said.
Rodriguez’s letter said: "You cannot imagine what I go through every time I receive a call about him, wondering if he will appear where I work or live. When making your decision, please bear in mind that my son Paul was the innocent victim, not Mr. Dillon. He intentionally and knowingly participated in taking the life of a young man so full of promise."
According to reports in The Observer, at the time of Broussard’s murder, Dillon was on parole for burglary of a building in Montgomery County. Since his release from prison in 2000, Dillon has also been arrested for evading arrest and theft by check.