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Murder suspect back in parish
Published Friday, October 30, 2009
VIDALIA — Michael Kelly Stevens is back in Concordia Parish to face the accusations against him in the murder of Mike Welch.
Local law enforcement officials extradited Stevens from Harris County, Texas, Wednesday.
He was booked into the Concordia Parish jail shortly after 5 p.m., and later that evening he was magistrated before Judge Leo Boothe in the Seventh Judicial District Court.
Boothe set Stevens’ bond at $2 million.
No date for an arraignment, when Stevens will be given the option of pleading “guilty,” “not guilty,” “not guilty by reason of insanity” or “no contest” to the charges, has been set, Vidalia Police Chief Ronnie G. “Tapper” Hendricks said.
Welch was discovered murdered at his residence, 804 Myrtle St., Oct. 4, but investigators believed he had been dead for more than one day at the time of the discovery. His throat had been cut.
Stevens had reportedly been living with Welch at the time, and had apparently left the area in Welch’s pickup truck.
The suspect was arrested in Channelview, Texas, Oct. 13 after being on the run for nearly two weeks.
The arrest followed an attempt to flee from Harris County deputies, who spotted Welch’s truck in a park after its closing hours.
While fleeing the deputies, Stevens jumped into the Houston Ship Channel and unsuccessfully tried to swim away.
He pleaded guilty to charges of evading arrest in a Harris County court, and was given a 30-day sentence, which was ultimately waived to allow his extradition.
Stevens also has two prior sex-crime convictions.
Comments
Posted by NAMVET (anonymous) on October 30, 2009 at 4:18 a.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by StuWhoMoved (anonymous) on October 30, 2009 at 5:06 a.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by snowgarden (anonymous) on October 30, 2009 at 8:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Good for you Judge Boothe with the 2 million bond!!! Way to set an example that we don't take crap in Concordia Parish! I hope this guy gets the max. This happened right down the road from me and it has made all of us uneasy.
Posted by na1015 (anonymous) on October 30, 2009 at 8:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Good for Boothe ??? What , now come on, This should have read " NO BOND " Why did the Judge even set a bond. Child Molester 2 times and Murder, then on the run for 2 weeks and still driving the victims truck. AND OUR JUDGES WILL STILL SET A BOND FOR THIS MAN... Sorry, but I don't agree. WAY TO GO CONCORDIA PARISH, let's give this animal a chance to be back out on our streets once again..
Posted by na1015 (anonymous) on October 30, 2009 at 8:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks to such GOOD JUDGES. (dont know which ones)But, If JUDGES would have done what was right in the first place after molesting 2 innocent children he would have never had the chance take this Victim's life, he would have been in PRISON where he belonged..
Posted by deerhunter007 (anonymous) on October 30, 2009 at 8:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Here we go again I log on and someone is bashing the court system in our town. I mean think about it whats the odds of someone coming up with 200,000 dollars cash witch would be 10% of the bond set witch was 2 million dollars. Why cant you people just be glad that he was caught and is back here and the welch family will get the justice they deserve.
Posted by Krogers (anonymous) on October 30, 2009 at 9:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
no bond would have been appropriate I would think, but apparently 2 mil $$ is enough to hold him....that's good, I don't want him out on the street waiting for trial with the opportunity to run......
the way it looks, there is no way this guy is anything but guilty
and if anyone deserves the death penalty
it's this guy......
and it should be done out in public to put the fear into others like him...
thank you TX LEO's for catching him
now we need a speedy and just trial, with severe punishment....
Posted by fonkeytowngirl (anonymous) on October 30, 2009 at 1:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
na1015 I couldn't agree with your comment more!! I say he should remain in jail until after his trial has ended!! It's obvious he has not regard for human life!! Any man that harms kids shouldn't be allowed to see the light of day. If the justice system was working as it should then he would've been still locked up where he couldn't hurt anyone else.
Posted by revols (anonymous) on October 30, 2009 at 2:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The justice system is too overrun to keep convicts for the time they deserve.
Two solutions I can think of: 1) more taxes for more prisoners. 2) re-work the sentencing structure so that horrible crimes like the ones he was convicted of serve there time and victimless (possession of drugs) crimes get a penalty, but not equivalent to the really severe crimes. (possession of pot shouldn't be 30 years)
Posted by na1015 (anonymous) on October 30, 2009 at 5:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
deerhunter007...I do not mean any disrepect to you or anyone elso on here, The court systems in all towns including ours are letting all these criminals run free with a slap on the wrist for anything, If the courts would have gave him what he deserved in the children's cases he wouldn't have been out here on our streets to take Mr. Welch's life, and yes our court system did handle one of the children's cases. So call it what you may, and yes, just say what if the bond could be made how would you feel to have him back running the streets in your town, NO BOND IS IMPOSSIBLE....I am just saying that the Welch family and friends should not have to read in the paper that this murderer has a BOND/second chance to be free. MIKE WELCH sure as heck didn't and don't have a chance.
Posted by NAMVET (anonymous) on October 31, 2009 at 4:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I've still got the rope !!!!!!
Posted by mrconcernedcitizen (anonymous) on October 31, 2009 at 3:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
the law says everyone is entitled to a bond. kinda goes along with that whole innocent until proven guilty nonsense that our justice system is supposedly based on. booth was right in the 2 million dollars bond. he gave him a bond like the law required and still made it impossible for this child molesting waste of oxygen to make it.
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