(TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH) - Convicted church arsonist Jason Bourque suspended efforts to seek a lesser sentence.
In late March, Jason Bourque, 26, filed a writ of habeas corpus hearing morning in the 114th District Court. His current attorney, Mike Snipes, argued Bourque’s former attorney Gregory Waldron failed to present certain information to the parties involved in the plea bargain that could have lessened the jail time sentenced.
On April 5, Bourque’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss the petition for writ of habeas corpus. “The petitioner has decided to ask this honorable court to dismiss these writs in the best interest of justice,” the motion reads.
Bourque and co-defendant Daniel George McAllister pleaded guilty in December 2010 to multiple counts of felony first-degree arson and charges of attempted arson. They each received the maximum sentences for those crimes, which the Smith County District Attorney’s Office recommended.
The two men are believed to have torched a church in Athens and one in Van Zandt County on New Year’s Day in 2010.
As the days passed, two additional churches in the Athens community, five churches in Smith County and a church in Wills Point burned before Bourque and McAllister were apprehended Feb. 21, 2010, and charged with the burning of the Dover Baptist Church fire Feb. 8 in Tyler.
Bourque was given 12 life sentences, which will be served concurrently, plus a 20-year sentence. He is eligible for parole on the first 12 life sentences (which are treated as one) in 2018. If parole is granted, the 20-year sentence will begin.
He has served seven years in prison.
