By Andy Kahan
Career habitual criminal Carl Wayne Buntion was on Parole for 42 days in June 1990 when he cold-bloodily shot and killed Houston Police Officer James Irby. Buntion had served a whopping 13 months of his 15- year sentence for Sexual Assault of a Child. It was only his 12th Felony conviction spanning over 30 years.
Buntion was an all-around felon with convictions for Burglary, Theft, Auto Theft, Sexual Assault and Oh Yeah---He tried to kill an Alabama Deputy Sheriff by trying to slit his throat with a piece of broken glass. Buntion continued to bare no bones as to who and what he is: A career habitual criminal, yet our criminal justice system consistently and without fail continued to spit him out to the public to do what he does best: Commit Crimes. Amazingly, not one single professional in the correctional system was able to decipher that Buntion was never going to be a law-abiding productive citizen.
State Parole Officials advised the media after Officer Irby was murdered they were unaware of Buntion's violent history. Maybe I am being a bit cynical or perhaps I am way off base to think that Sexual Assault of a Child and Attempted Murder of a Police Officer constitutes violent behavior. I guess my definition of what violent behavior is differs from true criminal justice professionals.
Sadly, Buntion was released from prison on parole more than a year earlier than his scheduled release date. Buntion was to be released June 1991, however the powers to be advanced his parole to May 15th, 1990. Six weeks later, Officer Irby was gunned down while stopping Buntion for traffic violations.
Buntion had been previously denied parole in 1989 by the parole board who cited his lengthy criminal history,prior parole violations,violent behavior and serious nature of his crimes as why he should not be released. Magically, all of the above disappeared one year later and he was released to a Halfway House.
On May 15th, 1990 after serving 13 months of a 15 year sentence for Sexual Assault of a Child and despite over 10 convictions all resulting in prison terms Carl Wayne Buntion was released and ordered to report to a Halfway House----He never showed. Forty Three days later and one day after Officer Irby was murdered Parole Officials issued a warrant for Not Reporting to the Halfway House.
Officer Irby spotted a vehicle making an illegal turn and pulled the car over. Buntion got out of the car on the passenger side holding a 357-caliber Magnum Revolver (Another Parole Violation). Buntion shot and struck Officer Irby's helmet and then calmly walked over and pumped two more bullets into Irby's back. Buntion also fired several shots at women who were screaming over the ambush--he hit one of them and then while fleeing the scene he tried to carjack another citizen. Buntion was finally arrested and roughly a year later he was sentenced to death.
Officer Irby's widow Maura started the Irby Foundation which was instrumental in changing parole laws and adding new prisons. There are people who never became crime victims because instead of yelling and screaming about the injustices of the world: Maura Irby took action. After several years of non-stop victim advocacy Maura decided it was best to become a full-time Mom to Callie and Cody who were respectively one and three when their father was brutally murdered.
Cody now 22 years-old has followed his father's footsteps and is a Police Officer for the city of Pflugerville, Texas ,while Callie now 20 attends community college.
Nineteen plus years later Maura Irby was once again thrust back into the spotlight thanks to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals who ruled the jury received an improper instruction when it came to deciding the death penalty. The court ruled the jury should have been able to consider Buntion's troubled childhood, that he was mistreated by an alcoholic father and had run away from home amongst other factors.
The new jury which probably will not be seated until the fall of 2010 will once again have to decide if Buntion warrants the death penalty or a life sentence. If the jury elects to sentence Buntion to life he will be immediately eligible for Parole based upon sentencing standards for crimes committed in 1990. If death is their option, Buntion will once again have probably at least a decade worth of appellate proceedings.
Parole hearings is the last thing the Irby family wants to deal with and a meeting with the District Attorney's Office last week reaffirmed their commitment to once again seek the death penalty on rogue career habitual offender turned Cop-Killer Carl Wayne Buntion.
May Maura Irby and her family finally be given some semblance of peace and justice.
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Career habitual criminal Carl Wayne Buntion was on Parole for 42 days in June 1990 when he cold-bloodily shot and killed Houston Police Officer James Irby. Buntion had served a whopping 13 months of his 15- year sentence for Sexual Assault of a Child. It was only his 12th Felony conviction spanning over 30 years.
Buntion was an all-around felon with convictions for Burglary, Theft, Auto Theft, Sexual Assault and Oh Yeah---He tried to kill an Alabama Deputy Sheriff by trying to slit his throat with a piece of broken glass. Buntion continued to bare no bones as to who and what he is: A career habitual criminal, yet our criminal justice system consistently and without fail continued to spit him out to the public to do what he does best: Commit Crimes. Amazingly, not one single professional in the correctional system was able to decipher that Buntion was never going to be a law-abiding productive citizen.
State Parole Officials advised the media after Officer Irby was murdered they were unaware of Buntion's violent history. Maybe I am being a bit cynical or perhaps I am way off base to think that Sexual Assault of a Child and Attempted Murder of a Police Officer constitutes violent behavior. I guess my definition of what violent behavior is differs from true criminal justice professionals.
Sadly, Buntion was released from prison on parole more than a year earlier than his scheduled release date. Buntion was to be released June 1991, however the powers to be advanced his parole to May 15th, 1990. Six weeks later, Officer Irby was gunned down while stopping Buntion for traffic violations.
Buntion had been previously denied parole in 1989 by the parole board who cited his lengthy criminal history,prior parole violations,violent behavior and serious nature of his crimes as why he should not be released. Magically, all of the above disappeared one year later and he was released to a Halfway House.
On May 15th, 1990 after serving 13 months of a 15 year sentence for Sexual Assault of a Child and despite over 10 convictions all resulting in prison terms Carl Wayne Buntion was released and ordered to report to a Halfway House----He never showed. Forty Three days later and one day after Officer Irby was murdered Parole Officials issued a warrant for Not Reporting to the Halfway House.
Officer Irby spotted a vehicle making an illegal turn and pulled the car over. Buntion got out of the car on the passenger side holding a 357-caliber Magnum Revolver (Another Parole Violation). Buntion shot and struck Officer Irby's helmet and then calmly walked over and pumped two more bullets into Irby's back. Buntion also fired several shots at women who were screaming over the ambush--he hit one of them and then while fleeing the scene he tried to carjack another citizen. Buntion was finally arrested and roughly a year later he was sentenced to death.
Officer Irby's widow Maura started the Irby Foundation which was instrumental in changing parole laws and adding new prisons. There are people who never became crime victims because instead of yelling and screaming about the injustices of the world: Maura Irby took action. After several years of non-stop victim advocacy Maura decided it was best to become a full-time Mom to Callie and Cody who were respectively one and three when their father was brutally murdered.
Cody now 22 years-old has followed his father's footsteps and is a Police Officer for the city of Pflugerville, Texas ,while Callie now 20 attends community college.
Nineteen plus years later Maura Irby was once again thrust back into the spotlight thanks to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals who ruled the jury received an improper instruction when it came to deciding the death penalty. The court ruled the jury should have been able to consider Buntion's troubled childhood, that he was mistreated by an alcoholic father and had run away from home amongst other factors.
The new jury which probably will not be seated until the fall of 2010 will once again have to decide if Buntion warrants the death penalty or a life sentence. If the jury elects to sentence Buntion to life he will be immediately eligible for Parole based upon sentencing standards for crimes committed in 1990. If death is their option, Buntion will once again have probably at least a decade worth of appellate proceedings.
Parole hearings is the last thing the Irby family wants to deal with and a meeting with the District Attorney's Office last week reaffirmed their commitment to once again seek the death penalty on rogue career habitual offender turned Cop-Killer Carl Wayne Buntion.
May Maura Irby and her family finally be given some semblance of peace and justice.
