Victim’s sister angry that suspect in AT&T Stadium homicide is free on bail

A man charged with murder in a fatal shooting outside AT&T Stadium in mid-October was released from the Tarrant County Jail on Wednesday morning after his bail was reduced by more than half.

Marvin Rodriguez, 28, of Dallas had been in custody since Oct. 11 when Rick Sells, 43, of Royse City was shot in the neck in the stadium parking lot after the Dallas Cowboys-New England Patriots game. Sells died Oct. 14

Rodriguez was also accused of placing a gun to the head of another man.

An Arlington magistrate originally set bail at a total of $300,000 — $200,000 in the murder case and $100,000 in the aggravated assault with a deadly weapon case.

After Rodriguez was charged by the Tarrant County district attorney’s office, he was transferred from the Arlington Jail to the Tarrant County Jail, said Terry Grisham, a spokesman for the sheriff’s department.

After a hearing Tuesday, state District Judge George Gallagher lowered his bail to a total of $110,000 — $75,000 on the murder charge and $35,000 on the aggravated assault charge, Grisham said.

By 5:25 p.m. Tuesday, Dallas attorney Tom Benson, who is also a bondsman, had posted bond for Rodriguez. One of Benson’s specialties is “those seeking bond reductions” according to his website.

Wednesday evening, Sells’ sister, Victoria Gunning, said through tears, “It makes me sick to the core that this … judge allowed a bond already way too low to go down so that this monster could walk free.”

Gunning said someone with the district attorney’s office told her that Rodriguez was being released because “everyone has the right to have a fair amount of bond.”

“My brother is in the grave. There is no fairness there,” she said.

Grisham said Rodriguez was kept in jail overnight on Gallagher’s order that he be released to the Community Supervisions and Corrections Department, a state agency that does pre-trial and post-sentence monitoring. That could not be arranged until Wednesday morning.

Gallagher set conditions for Rodriguez’s release: He must live with his parents, wear a GPS monitor, have an alcohol monitor installed at home and not travel other than to court, his attorney’s office or his job, said Samantha Jordan, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

Rodriguez is also prohibited from having contact with his two brothers, Javier and Candido, and from possessing firearms. Javier was arrested on unrelated warrants at AT&T Stadium the night of the shooting.

The next step is presentation of Rodriguez’s case to a grand jury, Jordan said. The date has not been set.

Staff writer Ryan Osborne contributed to this report.

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 6:22 PM with the headline "Victim’s sister angry that suspect in AT&T Stadium homicide is free on bail."