Dallas County judge again raises bail for murder suspect following widespread criticism

A Dallas County judge who faced criticism for lowering a murder suspect’s bail has raised the man’s bail on other charges. Julio Guerrero, 29, was arrested in June after an eight-hour standoff with Dallas police in east Oak Cliff. He was wanted for the slaying of 35-year-old Francisco Villanueva Rodriguez in May as well as a shooting at a gas station a week later that critically injured a 3-year-old girl. Earlier this month, Judge Chika Anyiam lowered Julio Guerrero’s total bail from $2 million to $510,000 after his defense attorney said he couldn’t afford it. Anyiam reversed that decision last week when she raised bail on his murder charge from $100,000 to $600,000.

In addition to the murder charge, Guerrero, 29, also faces three counts of aggravated assault against a public servant, four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and two drug charges. On Monday, Anyiam raised Guerrero’s bail on the aggravated assault charges, making his total bail $1.96 million — about the same amount he faced before she initially lowered it. Anyiam did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tom Cox, Guerrero’s attorney, said in a court filing Monday addressed to Anyiam that it appeared that her decision on Guerrero’s bail was in response to media attention. The letter notes that during a hearing March 10, the court agreed to lower Guerrero’s total bail to just over $500,000 without much objection from prosecutors. Members of the press weren’t present at the hearing, Cox said. The next day, WFAA-TV (Channel 8) published a story about the lowered bail, and articles followed from other media outlets, including The Dallas Morning News.