DALLAS (1080 KRLD)- A Dallas County judge has lowered bond, allowing a man accused of killing a Dallas Police office in a drunk driving accident to get out of jail while awaiting trial.
Relatives of Phillip Mabry, 33 Little Rock AR, posted $325,000 bond. Mabry was fitted with an ankle monitor and allowed to leave the Dallas County jail.
Mabry is under indictment for the intoxication of a peace officer and for tampering with evidence in connection with the Feb. 13, 2021 wreck that killed Dallas Police officer Mitchell Penton.
A probable cause affidavit says Penton was helping at the scene of a prior accident at U.S. 75 and Walnut Hill when Mabry's car slammed into his squad car without slowing down. The force of the impact cause the police car to lurch forward, striking Penton and sending him flying through the air, the affidavit said.
Penton was pronounced dead a short while later.
Police say Mabry had been traveling with a woman at the time, and both told an investigating officer they had been drinking prior to the accident. A witness at the scene said Mabry dumped a substance that appeared to be marijuana on the ground, according to the affidavit.
Bond was initially set at $350,000 for the intoxication manslaughter charge and $150, 000 for the tampering charge. But State District Court Judge Amber Givens lowered bond after Mabry's attorneys filed papers claiming the amount was excessive for the charge.
"The bail required on Mabry's cases is patently excessive and is a de facto pretrial detention order. Only a wealthy defendant could afford a bond set at half a million dollars." The defense argued in a bond reduction motion.
The bond reduction angered two police unions.
"It's shocking to a certain degree that we're dealing with an individual who chose to drink and drive resulting in the death of a Dallas officer that was doing his job helping others out there on the road that day." said Terrence Hopkins, President of the Black Police Officers Association of Dallas.
The Dallas Police Association accused prosecutors and judges of playing off one another to take responsibility for the ability of suspects accused of violent crimes to post bond and get out of jail.
"He was a great man. He was about to have a baby. He's never going to see that baby. The baby was born after his death." said Frederick Frazier, vice President of the DPA. "Here we are looking at this bond, another slap in the face to law enforcement, another slap in the face to the citizens of Dallas County."
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