J.B. WRIGHT, III PLEADS GUILTY IN KURTZ CASE, RECEIVES 16 YEAR SENTENCE

  

The final codefendant in the murder case of Blinn College student Trey Kurtz has plead guilty.

21-year-old J.B. Wright, III plead guilty to Aggravated Assault, and was sentenced Thursday by plea agreement to 16 years in prison.

Wright was indicted with three other codefendants in the October 2014 murder of Kurtz, those being Michael Dixon, Deperrion Lott, and Jordan Graves.  Wright was 16 at the time of the offense, and had to be certified through the courts to be prosecuted as an adult, not a juvenile.

Aggravated Assault is a second degree felony, punishable by two to 20 years in prison.  Like the other codefendants, Wright will not be eligible for parole until he serves half of his sentence.

During Dixon’s trial—the only one to not end with a plea agreement—much of the evidence came from Wright.  Washington County District Attorney Julie Renken said Wright was offered the lightest sentence of the four suspects “because of the role he played in getting convictions for the other three”.

Renken said her office is pleased to have all the people involved in this case in prison, after five years.  She said she knows this cannot “make the Kurtz family whole”, but her office hopes the family “can finally feel some closure”.