Sentencing delayed after defendant attempts suicide

Homepage

Related Photos

Convicted sex offender Michael Charles Conner will serve time in a Texas Department of Corrections facility if he recovers from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Conner — a former Gainesville resident — reportedly shot himself around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday at a residence in Denton. He was on trial for failure to comply with annual sex offender registration. Courtesy photo

Guest Book

September 21, 2012

Sentencing delayed after defendant attempts suicide

By GREG RUSSELL, Register Staff Writer Gainesville Daily Register The Daily Register Fri Sep 21, 2012, 08:57 AM CDT

Denton — Despite a suicide attempt early Wednesday morning that kept Michael Charles Conner from completing his days in court, hearings continued through this week.

A conviction and a 10-year penitentiary sentence was decided in his absence.

Conner, 35, of Denton, a former Gainesville resident convicted of a sexual assault in Cooke County in 2000, will receive the sentence for his failure to comply with annual sex offender registration requirements.

Cooke County Assistant District Attorney Lisa Decker said if Conner recovers from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, he will still face prison time for his registration offense, a third-degree felony.

The defendant was expected in trial Wednesday. But Denton Police Department Media Relations Officer Ryan Greille said emergency dispatchers received a call at 4:30 a.m. from a woman who reported Conner shot himself in the head at a residence in the 600 block of Gardenview Circle in Denton.

Conner survived the shot and was transported to a Plano hospital. Greille didn’t release the name of the caller and added that further information about the incident was unavailable.

But the defendant’s suicide attempt, Decker explained, doesn’t count as an involuntary removal from prosecution.

“The jury returned a verdict but he will not be sentenced,” she said. “If he makes a recovery to competency, a warrant will be issued and he will be picked up and brought back.”

Decker said the 10-year sentence Conner may formally receive had stemmed from a “character assessment” of him that arose during his most recent trial. His criminal history dates to 1997, when he kidnapped a young woman and received probation. The kidnapping, she added, was sexual in motive and led to counseling sessions for Conner.

Later, Conner served nearly seven years in jail for the convicted rape of an 18-year-old woman in Cooke County. After his release in 2006, he resumed residence in the county and was ordered to register annually as a sex offender.

But in early 2010, Conner allegedly exposed himself to a female neighbor — and though the incident was reported, it was never brought to prosecution.

“And then comes November 2010, and he gets evicted and he knows he’s moving and doesn’t give notice, and he gets arrested for the failure to abide by the sex offender rules,” Decker said.

Conner’s exact medical status was unavailable at press time.