Juvenile certified as adult
By FRED DAVIS The Enterprise

A 16-year-old who along with two others is accused of pummeling a 62-year-old man nearly to death on his honeymoon will stand trial as an adult.

Jasper County District Attorney's Office Investigator Mike Wilson said Judge Jerome Owens made the ruling in a juvenile certification hearing Wednesday involving Aristio Brooks, who had recently moved to Burkeville from Houston.

Brooks and two others, Rashard McQueen and Gerald Stanley, both 18 and from Jasper, are accused in a Feb. 24 attack on Joel Lee Hendricks.

His assailants hit him with a shovel at his room at the Budget Motel in Jasper, according to investigators.

Hendricks, a Louisiana resident, was with his new bride, Minnie.

Wilson said it appeared Hendricks was victimized by three people who were knocking on doors to rob anyone who answered.

Brooks, McQueen and Stanley all have been charged with aggravated robbery and burglary of a building. The aggravated robbery charge is a firstdegree felony punishable by 20 to 99 years in prison.

Wilson said the cases have not yet gone before a grand jury.

The three are in the Jasper County Jail. A $90,000 bond is set on Brooks, while McQueen and Stanley both have $310,000 bonds.

Wilson said Stanley also is awaiting transfer to a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility for violating probation on a drug charge.

He's facing five years in that case.