Pubdate: Tue, 18 May 1999 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Copyright: 1999 Houston Chronicle Contact: http://www.chron.com/ Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html Author: Steve Brewer DRUG DEALER WHO PARALYZED OFFICER RECEIVES LIFE SENTENCE A drug dealer who wounded and partially paralyzed an undercover Houston police officer during a 1998 gunfight was sentenced Monday to life in prison and fined $10,000. The jury took about five minutes to decide on the maximum punishment for Robert Demond Lavern, 18, who must serve at least 30 years before he is eligible for parole. State District Judge Elsa Alcala imposed the sentence, after Lavern's conviction for aggravated assault on a public servant conviction. "It's the most he could have gotten and so I'm very pleased," prosecutor Casey O'Brien said later. "I'm elated. It's justice." The sentence assessed Monday for the Feb. 4, 1998, shooting of Officer Vonda Higgins will run concurrently with a 24-year term assessed by another jury in December after Lavern was convicted of the same charge for firing at Higgins' partner, Ralph Chaison, during the same exchange. Because that sentence meant Lavern would only have to serve 12 years before being parole-eligible, prosecutors pursued the second charge against him. The gunfight occurred outside a West Branch apartment complex. Chaison and Higgins, both working undercover, were buying drugs from dealers in the area, including Lavern. When Chaison refused Lavern's order to put some crack cocaine in his mouth to prove he wasn't "the law," Lavern pulled a pistol. Chaison drew and fired, wounding Lavern. As Higgins got out of the truck to help her exposed partner, she was shot in the neck. The round lodged near her spine and she now has only limited movement in her upper body. Defense attorney Jeff Hale argued that his client didn't know the pair were police officers. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D