The murder trial started Tuesday for a Texas man charged with the 2020 killing of 8-year-old Kendrick Lee.
According to prosecutors, Brian Coulter is accused of murdering Kendrick and abandoning his body in the family’s apartment in southwest Harris County. He pleaded not guilty to capital murder and chose a bench trial rather than a jury trial.
Judge Kelli Johnson with the 78th Criminal District Court Judge Kelli Johnson will determine his guilt or innocence.
Coulter, identified as the boyfriend of the victim’s mother Gloria Williams, was arrested in 2021, although investigators said the victim died around Thanksgiving 2020.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Williams was also arrested and charged with injury to a child by omission, failure to provide adequate supervision, and failure to provide medical care.
Kendrick’s siblings, ages 15, 10, and 7, lived alone for nearly a year at the CityParc II at West Oaks Apartments in Houston. Investigators were alerted when the 15-year-old, Jordan, called 911 in October 2021 and said his mother had left him there for months with his younger siblings.
He added that his younger brother was dead inside a room at the apartment.
“Jordan will tell you that Brian Coulter had a history of locking Kendrick Lee in a room, limiting his access to food, and that there was a history of abuse – of this man hitting, kicking, punching Kendrick Lee,” prosecutor Celeste Byrom said during opening statements, according to ABC 13.
The teen told investigators that Kendrick died inside a bedroom at the apartment. He also said he could hear Coulter beating on Williams.
Coulter and Williams lived in a separate apartment located around 25 minutes away. According to the children, Williams and Coulter would return every few weeks to deliver food, but Coulter would also physically assault them during the visits.
“I believe it was absolute fear,” HCSO Lt. Dennis Wilford previously said, referring to the teen waiting months before calling for help.
“Over time, I believe that the beatings were consistent, mainly directed at the younger children, and the 15-year-old was absolutely afraid, basically, hoping and relying on his mother to at some point to contact law enforcement…and that didn’t happen.”
Police said the apartment where the children lived had no furniture inside but had plenty of roaches running amuck and soiled carpeting.
Two of the children, Trevon, 10, and Ja’Veon, 7, told investigators that they witnessed Coulter kick and punch Kendrick in the back, face, legs, arms, and testicles lower until the child died. Coulter then put a blue blanket over Kendrick and left him in the bedroom, police said.
By the time police found Kendrick, he was skeletalized and had bugs crawling over his remains.
Williams said she tried to intervene during the assault after witnessing a portion of it. She claimed she didn’t call the police afterward because Coulter told her not to, and she was afraid of going to jail and losing custody of her children.
Shortly after, the pair moved out of the apartment.
The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office said Kendrick died from “homicidal violence” and had numerous blunt-force trauma injuries. A criminal complaint stated that on November 20, 2020, Coulter killed Kendrick by punching and kicking him to death.
Williams allegedly helped conceal the boy’s death, according to the criminal complaint. She’s also accused of starving one of her children. Her trial is scheduled for April 12.
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[Feature Photo: A younger Kendrick with Gloria Williams/Facebook]
