District Attorney Micheal Murray reported that on Wednesday, February 9, Tristan Duane Bell, 23, was convicted of the offenses Injury to a Disabled Person and Aggravated Assault Family Violence and sentenced to serve thirty years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Bell was convicted following a trial in front of Judge Mike Smith that began on Monday. Assistant District Attorneys Alex Hunn and Skyler Schoolfield presented evidence that on the 16th of October, 2020, Bell strangled his girlfriend and beat her with his hands, with potted plants, with a USB jukebox, and with a television in their shared apartment. Medical records showed that the assault broke the victim’s foot and caused multiple deep cuts which required stitches. The victim’s pulmonologist, Dr. Sonja Bartolome, testified that the victim also requires constant medication to treat a chronic lung condition, and that a port on the victim’s body which had been ripped out by Bell during the assault provided life-saving medicine.

If not for the victim’s father, Rob Mills, retrieving her medication, the victim would have been at immediate risk of deadly withdrawal effects. This assault followed more than four years of domestic violence and abuse.

The District Attorney presented further evidence that Bell had assaulted Charles Robinson, a severely disabled 84-year-old man he cared for while employed with ResCare. Bell was convicted of striking Robinson with his hands and with a colostomy bag.

After convicting Bell of both offenses, Judge Smith sentenced Bell to thirty years incarceration for Aggravated Assault Family Violence and to ten years incarceration for Injury to a Disabled Person. These sentences will be served concurrently. Because a deadly weapon was used in the commission of one of the offenses, Bell will not be eligible for probation until he has served at least fifteen years of his sentence.