A man will serve four months in prison after acknowledging in a plea deal with North Texas prosecutors that he caused the death of Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens' grandson by injecting him with heroin.
Tarrant County prosecutors said Monday that 23-year-old Brennan Rodriguez was sentenced to 10 years' probation after pleading guilty to delivery of a controlled substance. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped murder and other charges against Rodriguez.
Twenty-one-year-old Thomas "Ty" Boone Pickens IV was at Rodriguez's Fort Worth apartment in January 2013 when Rodriguez injected Pickens with heroin, according to the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office
Prosecutors say Rodriguez and another man left Pickens at the apartment to buy more drugs, when they returned Pickens was passed out, they shook him awake but he appeared to fall asleep. Hours later, Pickens was driven to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A grand jury in June 2013 had indicted Rodriguez on murder and other charges.
The Pickens family released the following statement:
"We are grateful for the Tarrant County prosecutor's efforts in securing some justice for our beloved son, Ty.
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Going to trial would have subjected our family to further emotional trauma that no one should be forced to endure.
Brennan Rodriguez pleaded guilty to injecting our son with heroin. We are steadfast in our belief and knowledge that Ty had not used heroin before.
Brennan injected Ty in order to steal his ATM card and the security code. There is proof of him using the card, getting money and then using it to buy more heroin.
The guilty plea today reinforces what we have known all along - our son was not a heroin addict. He was victimized by Brennan Rodriguez.
If this had gone to trial, the world would have seen that Brennan has a pattern of abusing drugs and abusing others.
We saw no remorse in his eyes today. He is a danger to others, and we can only hope and pray that he can rehabilitate himself, and that he can never harm others again.
The streets are safer without Brennan - for now. We hope he finds the help he needs. But, in the meantime, we will remain steadfast in our efforts to showcase the dangers of heroin and drug dealers. We look forward to announcing plans to further that cause soon."
