 |
| Eli Donovan Salina Binnion, 22, of Livingston |
|
Judge Confirms, It's Probation for Child Rapist, LIVINGSTON, June 23, 2021 - Over continued opposition by Polk County prosecutors, 258th District Judge Travis E. Kitchens, reaffirmed his previously announced probation sentence to Eli Donovan Binnion who pled guilty last year to sexually assaulting a fourteen year old girl in a local hotel in July of 2018. In a hearing held Wednesday afternoon in the Polk County Judicial Center, Kitchens found specifically that probation for Binnion was in the best interest of defendant, society and the victim in spite of widely reported criticism by the victim’s father following Kitchens earlier oral pronouncement of sentence on June 3rd. Kitchens also sentenced Binnion to three years in prison on a charge of Aggravated Assault Causing Serious Bodily Injury stemming from an incident which occurred in the Polk County Jail in September of 2018 when Binnion assaulted another inmate and broke his jaw. However, due to the fact that Binnion has been incarcerated in the Polk County Jail awaiting trial since 2018, it is likely that he will not spend any actual time in a TDCJ facility. In regard to the Sexual Assault of a Child sentence, Kitchens made no finding of guilt and if Binnion successfully completes the probation, he will not have a conviction on his record for this offense. Binnion will be required to register as a sex offender. Kitchens did order that Binnion serve an additional period of 180 days in jail as a term of his probation, after which he will be released back into the community.
Editor's Note: I attended this hearing and was thrown out because I stepped outside the courtroom and snapped a picture of Binnion with my cell phone. I've done this many times in trials and court proceedings over the years in many judges' courts including Judge Robert Trapp, Judge Kaycee Jones, Judge Elizabeth Coker, Judge David Wilson. When entering a courtroom in the Judicial Center, there's a small area (a vestebule, or foyer), then two other doors that open into the actual courtroom. It was in that small area, outside the courtroom, where I snapped my picture. My cell phone was temporarily confiscated, then the pictures deleted. I was then ordered to leave and to not return.
|
