Four murder trials on court docket
Four men charged with murder face jury trials in the 424th District Court in Llano County. They are (clockwise from top left) Jimmy D. Wolfenbarger, Dennis Wayne Price II, James Mayer Harris Jr., and Jordan Eric Ostrander. Law enforcement booking photos
Four jury trials for four separate murder cases are on the docket in the 424th District Court in Llano County: three potentially starting April 1 and one scheduled for Aug. 26.
Jimmy D. Wolfenbarger, who was released from jail on a $2 million bond in 2021, is set to go to trial in August for the 2006 killing of Holly Marie Simmons in Buchanan Dam. He is charged with “intentionally or knowingly” causing the death of Simmons “by strangulation” on or around Nov. 28, 2006. Divers found her body at the bottom of Inks Lake three years after she was reported missing.
The accused in the other three cases, Dennis Wayne Price II, Jordan Eric Ostrander, and James Mayer Harris Jr., each have until March 18 to negotiate a plea deal, said 33rd/424th District Attorney Wiley “Sonny” McAfee.
If no agreement is reached, the men should prepare for trials by April 1. Whichever case the judge calls on the docket that day, will go to trial first. The others, if any, will follow at a later date.
Price faces three charges, including first-degree murder, in the Oct. 3, 2022, death of wife Carrie Ann Price in Kingsland. He is out on three bonds totaling $1.15 million.
Ostrander is one of two people charged with capital murder in the Jan. 14, 2023, deaths of 38-year-old Preston Wessling and his 14-year-old son, Evan, in Tow. Also charged was Kyler Nathaniel Allen. Both are being held in the Burnet County Jail without bail.
Harris, a Blanco County attorney, faces a murder charge in the Aug. 28, 2021, shooting death of his 25-year-old stepson, Donald Boumans, in Blanco County. He was released under indictment on a $50,000 bond.