HOUSTON — The man accused of killing 9-year-old Arlene Alvarez back in February of 2022 was back in court Monday morning for a bond hearing.
At that hearing, which was at the request of his defense attorneys, a judge lowered Tony Earls Jr.'s bond from $100,000 down to $75,000. Bond was also lowered on an unrelated aggravated assault charge from $40,000 to $15,000.
Earls was initially charged with aggravated assault, but a Harris County grand jury declined to indict him in July 2022 and he was released. Earls was then arrested again earlier last month after the Alvarez family hired their own team to help uncover new evidence that led to the murder charge.
Both the defense and the Alvarez family agreed that Monday’s bond reduction was fair.
“There’s been a lot of talk, you know, from the prosecutor about how this was reckless, reckless, reckless, which would be more in line with potentially a manslaughter charge, not a murder charge, which I asked the judge to set the bond in terms of what a manslaughter charge would be set at,” said Earls’ defense attorney, Ana Paula Funes-Baker.
“Today, we can say that we are leaving here content,” said Arlene Alvarez’s aunt, April Aguirre. “However, it’s a difficult day because there’s still somebody missing when you get home and we have to keep showing up and ensuring that the judges and the defense attorneys are within the parameters of the law and are not stepping out of those boundaries.”
Arlene Alvarez was shot and killed on Valentine's Day 2022 while riding to dinner with her family as Earls was shooting at a man who had just robbed him at a nearby ATM.
The judge has ordered a discovery compliance hearing to give the prosecutors an opportunity to present more evidence in the case. That hearing is set for July 24.