Arlington man gets two years for killing Kennedale teacher

An Arlington man avoided a long prison sentence in the 2013 killing of a popular Kennedale teacher when prosecutors had problems with data from a cellphone tower, an official said.

In a plea agreement reached last week, Patrick Brooks was sentenced to two years in jail in the slaying of Kennedale Junior High teacher John Ross Shreves on the night of June 9, 2013. Brooks pleaded guilty to a charge of criminally negligent homicide in Criminal District Court No. 297.

Because he has been in a jail, Brooks may just need to serve another year, his attorney said. Brooks was indicted by a Tarrant County grand jury on a charge of murder and faced a maximum of 99 years in prison if convicted by a jury.

“An emerging issue regarding the reliability of a specific form of cellphone tower data undermined our ability to prosecute the case to the satisfaction of a jury,” said Sam Jordan, a spokeswoman with the Tarrant County district attorney’s office in an email. “The decision to make this plea agreement was difficult, but we believe it was the appropriate course of action under the circumstances.”

Shreves’ family members could not be reached Tuesday.

“It’s still tragic to the family,” said Mark Scott of Fort Worth, Brooks’ attorney. “The state put in a lot of work on this case, and this is how it ended up.”

Criminal court documents indicate that the prosecutors’ case must have begun to fall apart in the past nine months.

In a document filed in March 2015, prosecutors indicated they were ready to go to trial, expecting to call at least 18 witnesses and estimating that the trial would last five days. The document said that no plea deal was being offered to Brooks.

Prosecutors also intended to introduce evidence that Brooks had been charged in 2012 with reckless discharge of a firearm, driving while intoxicated and possession of a prohibited weapon. He was convicted of those charges on Sept. 26, 2012, and sentenced to 30 days on each, according to court records.

Brooks pleaded guilty to shooting Shreves, 27, of Plano, to death in the parking lot of No Frills Grill & Sports Bar, 4914 Little Road.

Authorities have not disclosed any information about a motive in the slaying.

Brooks and Shreves had been classmates at Kennedale High School years before. They went their separate ways, but reconnected in January 2013 on a social media website.

A witness told Arlington police that Shreves and Brooks had texted each other and made plans to meet up on the night of June 9, 2013, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

On that night, Shreves received a text from Brooks, saying, “What u got goin later?” At 10:33 p.m., Shreves sent Brooks a text: “Want to go get something to drink?” From other texts, Shreves learned that Brooks was living with his grandparents in Arlington.

Shreves picked Brooks up in Arlington and drove to the Arlington bar, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. The two were sitting in the car when a surveillance camera at No Frills recorded multiple muzzle flashes inside the car and a man exiting the vehicle.

Brooks “unfriended” Shreves on Facebook hours after he was killed, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Brooks was arrested a few days after the killing.

Shreves had taught seventh-grade and eighth-grade English at Kennedale Junior High, his second year at the school, according to the Kennedale school district website. He had taught in the district three years.

This report includes information from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 11:13 AM with the headline "Arlington man gets two years for killing Kennedale teacher."