Prosecutors on Thursday filed capital murder charges against two Houstonians in the shooting death of an off-duty Harris County Precinct 4 deputy constable.
Lee Eldridge Sonier, 31, and Judy Lucille Hambrick, 40, were charged in the Tuesday shooting of Ronnie Brewer, said Donna Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney's office.
Hambrick was arrested on Tuesday on charges of theft of a firearm. She and Sonier are in the Harris County Jail, according to court documents. Hambrick is scheduled to appear on Friday in the 339th State District Court.
Houston police responding to a 911 call found Brewer, 47, fatally shot in a vehicle that crashed into a utility pole about 1:20 a.m. Tuesday in the 8900 block of Ramin in northeast Houston. Hambrick's listed address is in the same block.
Court documents show Eldridge has been arrested several times since 2004.
In December, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to evading arrest.
In 2008 and again in 2009 Eldridge spent 10 days in jail for failing to identify himself to police officers.
In 2005, he was sentenced to seven years in prison in connection with two drug charges. Harris county records did not show when he was paroled.
Hambrick was convicted on a charge of prostitution in 2006.
Police said Hambrick admitted taking Brewer's weapon from his vehicle. According to information presented in court late Wednesday, she took the weapon and other items from the floor of the car.
According to court records, the firearm that Hambrick allegedly took from the vehicle is owned by Mary Brewer, who is Ronnie Brewer's mother. The deputy's mother, however, said she didn't own a gun.
"He wouldn't have anything of mine, anyway," Mary Brewer said by phone. "He would have his own weapon, his police-issue gun. That had to be some- one else with a name like mine."
A call to Mary Brewer's home for comment on the arrests was not answered.
Precinct 4 Constable Ron Hickman's office also did not return a call for comment late Thursday afternoon.
Ronnie Brewer had been in law enforcement for about 13 years and with Precinct 4 since 2003.
Chronicle reporter Brian Rogers contributed to this report.