GRIMES CO. MAN PLEADS GUILTY, SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS FOR 2017 MURDER

  

A Grimes County man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, after pleading guilty to murder.

29-year-old Robert Jesse Bender of Shiro was sentenced Monday for the shooting and killing of 26-year-old Henry Jesus Mayen in August of 2017.

According to investigators, the two were arguing at Mayen’s residence on Highway 30 when the shooting occurred.  Investigators said Mayen was upset because his estranged wife was living with Bender at the time.  They said the two knew each other, and had at one point been friends.

During the altercation, Bender shot Mayen in the chest with a .22 caliber rifle in the yard of the residence.  After the fatal shot, prosecutors said the two struggled before Bender eventually began performing CPR on Mayen.  Mayen died at the scene.

Grimes County District Attorney Andria Bender said the death of Mayen was “a senseless tragedy”, but she was “pleased that the defendant accepted responsibility for his actions in this case”.

Murder is a first-degree felony, with a penalty range of five to 99 years in prison.