Driver in triple fatal released on reduced bond
CONROE – The Grangerland teen charged with three counts of manslaughter following a fatal accident on October 16, was freed from jail on Thursday following a bond reduction hearing in the 359th District Court of Judge Kathleen Hamilton.
Casey McKinley, 18, was booked into the Montgomery County Jail on the afternoon of the crash, with bond set at $150,000. On Thursday, Hamilton heard the request before a courtroom packed with McKinley’s supporters. The judge reduced the bond amount to $45,000, or $15,000 per count. McKinley’s attorney, Tay Bond, originally requested his client’s bond be reduced to $5,000 per count.
McKinley’s bond includes standard conditions, such as abstaining from using alcohol or illegal drugs, reporting to probation and submitting to random urinalysis. He is also required to be inside his residence between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and is subject to random phone calls to check compliance.
The crash occurred when McKinley’s Dodge Ram pickup was eastbound on Loop 336 and struck a Mazda sedan crossing that road at FM 1314. Two other cars were involved in the collision, but the deceased were all in the Mazda. Witnesses told police McKinley ran a red light.
The deceased are identified as Craig Rector, 50, his 20-year-old daughter, Felicia Hicks and her common-law husband, Freedom Fitch, 24. All three were Splendora residents. Rector was a father of five; Hicks and Fitch shared a 2-year-old daughter, Annabelle who was not with them at the time of the crash.
The Conroe Police Department Community Oriented Response Team investigated the crash and representatives of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office responded to the scene as well.
McKinley is a 2009 graduate of Caney Creek High School who is currently attending Texas A&M University at Galveston. He has no criminal record.
