[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 24 (Thursday, February 8, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H1348]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           CRIME OF THE WEEK

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, the crime of the week this week was not 
committed by some menacing outlaw, but it was committed by a repeat 
offender, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
  The Texas parole board has been releasing violent offenders years 
before they are finished serving out their sentences, and then these 
violent criminals continue their lawless ways.
  Keith Hines was supposed to be in the jailhouse for 30 more years for 
violent crimes against the citizens of the State, but the good old 
parole board gave him a get-out-of-jail-free card, and this was a fatal 
error.
  On December 5, Hines robbed a gas station at gunpoint in Humble, 
Texas. The robber then ran to his vehicle to make his getaway. Witness, 
volunteer firefighter and good Samaritan, Steve Jackson, jumped into 
his car and followed Hines while relaying to 911 the locations of the 
hijacker.
  Down the road, with Jackson in pursuit, Hines jumped out of his 
getaway car, ran up to Jackson's vehicle, shot Jackson twice and 
murdered him on the side of the road.
  Hines is now charged with capital murder. All this because the Texas 
Board of Pardons and Paroles let this habitual offender go every which 
way, including loose.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________