Teen accused of killing teacher had a criminal record

HARLINGEN - A teenager charged with capital murder in the death of a Harlingen High School South teacher is already on probation for an aggravated assault charge in Laredo, officials said Wednesday.

The Cameron County District Attorney's Office learned of the case this week, spokesman Jason Moody said.

The details of the charge and probation in Webb County were not immediately available.

"That is another item the state will probably be considering, but at the moment we are still gathering information," Moody said.

The boy is scheduled for a hearing next week on the murder charge he faces in connection with teacher John Farr's death. Officials hope to know before then whether he will be tried as an adult.

Meanwhile, a preliminary autopsy report on Farr has been completed. However, the report was withheld from the public Wednesday.

The boy also faced a juvenile judge on June 18 on an aggravated assault charge issued in Cameron County, which is unrelated to the Laredo case and the capital murder charge, Moody said.

During that hearing, the judge ruled the boy would remain at the Darrell B. Hester Juvenile Detention Center while officials gathered information to determine whether he will be certified to stand trial as an adult, Moody said.

Another hearing, on the capital murder charge, ended in an order for his psychiatric evaluation.

Harlingen police arrested the boy June 16, after Farr, 49, was found dead in his apartment at the Oak Terrace apartment complex, police spokesman David Osborne said.

Farr was a speech, drama and theater teacher at Harlingen South.

In addition to withholding Farr's autopsy report, authorities have refused to release the probable cause affidavit in the case. Such affidavits typically list reasons why authorities believe a suspect committed the crime in question.

Chief First Assistant District Attorney Charles E. Mattingly said the affidavit would not be released because the suspect is a juvenile.