By RENÉE C. LEE
The Houston Chronicle
CONROE — Joshua Kennedy wasted little time telling a new cell block mate that he wanted to kill a Montgomery County sheriff’s deputy who had arrested him, according to testimony given Wednesday by a police informant.
Witness Scott Craig told jurors that on his first day in the A-11 unit, Kennedy told him that ''he would kill Philip Cash,” and that he wanted it done a week before he got out of jail.
''He told me it would be better if it happened while he was in jail because they (authorities) would come to him first,” said Craig, who alerted police to the developing plot against Lt. Philip Cash, a narcotics officer, in March 2007. ''But he said they couldn’t prove he had anything to do with it.”
Craig was one of five state witnesses who testified before Judge Kathleen A. Hamilton of the 359th state District Court during the second day of trial.
Kennedy, of New Caney, and his two co-defendants, Billy Jack Pelton, of Pearland, and Cole Younger Patton, of Porter, are accused of conspiring to kill Cash last year.
The plan was to use pipe bombs and cell phones with tracking devices, investigators said.
A fourth suspect, Rose Ann Bond, Kennedy’s cousin, pleaded guilty and will testify during the trial.
Craig was in the Montgomery County Jail on a DWI charge with a child in the car and for violating parole. He was later moved into the same jail area as Kennedy in February 2007.
He said Kennedy told him he wanted to place a bomb under Cash’s car or ''roll up beside him and shoot him.”
In addition, Kennedy, who also is charged with solicitation of capital murder, said he had good friends on the outside whom he trusted and would help carry out the plan, Craig testified.
Kennedy trusted Craig because another inmate had vouched for him, Craig said.
Craig acknowledge that he initially agreed to participate in the plot, but later realized it was wrong, partly because his brother is a Harris County sheriff’s deputy.
''The only way I could get out of it was to go to the police,” he said.
Montgomery County sheriff’s detective Jeff Wells testified earlier in the day that Craig told him about Kennedy’s plan on March 20.
Wells also said Craig agreed to wear a recording device during conversations with Kennedy. Talks between the two inmates were recorded on March 23 and April 2, Wells said.
The detective also said Craig was not given any leniency or deals to help police. However, authorities worked with the district attorney’s office to get Craig’s DWI charge dismissed and a warrant for violating parole lifted so that he could continue to help on the case outside of jail, Wells said.
Kennedy told Craig his role on the outside was to help get the cell phones, locate Cash’s car and pick up the bomb, Wells said.
Kennedy then gave Craig the names — Bond, Pelton and Patton — and phone numbers of his helpers before Craig was released on April 7.
From April 16 to May 22, Kennedy made a series of calls to Craig from jail to discuss the plan. All the calls were recorded by the jail’s phone system, Wells said.
Police also have a video and audio recording of an April 14 jail visit by Craig and Bond, as well as May 23 recordings of the two buying a cell phone at a Wal-Mart and buying a jar of Pyrodex — a substitute for black powder — to make the bomb, Wells testified.
The prosecution will resume presenting its case at 8:30 a.m.
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle