Mother and Daughter Drop Bail Pleas
A Paradise Hills woman and her La Mesa daughter, who are accused independently of trying to hire an assassin to kill their estranged husbands, decided not to ask a judge to lower their bails Thursday.
Municipal Judge Nicholas Kasimatis left bail as set, at $50,000, for Judith Lynette East, 45, and $30,000 for her daughter, Venise Lynette Morris, 27. They remain in custody in the County Jail at Las Colinas.
A preliminary hearing for the women on separate charges of trying to solicit a murder is scheduled to begin Oct. 3. The charge carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison.
“We haven’t received all the (investigative) reports yet, so for now we’re willing to accept bail as set,” said Morris’ attorney, Robert Slatton.
Authorities say neither woman apparently knew that the other was trying to hire a hit man at the same time last week. An undercover police officer posing as a paid killer contacted the women separately, and each allegedly promised to pay him for the killing from her husband’s life insurance.
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