Entitled Mom Thinks Pregnancy Will Keep Her Out Of Prison

[00:00:00]Marlisa Bell thought her pregnancy [music] would be her ticket to freedom, but she couldn't have been more mistaken. Given a rare second chance on probation for a serious [music] drug offense, she had the opportunity to turn her life around. Instead, she went down a path of utter chaos. She left her three young kids behind, fell back into drugs, and ran off with the very man the court had ordered her to avoid. Now, she finds herself back in a yellow jumpsuit ready to face the consequences. Watch what happens when Judge Boyd pulls out the probation file [music] and puts an end to the excuses.

[00:00:40]>> Are you the same Marlisa Janell Bell who was placed on community supervision in 2022 CR86268 for the offense of possession of a controlled substance penalty group one, 1 g to 4 g on December 1st, 2022 for a period of 4 years? Is that you?

[00:00:58]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:00:59]>> All right, state.

[00:01:02]>> Violation condition number four, in Bear County, Texas, the defendant, Marlisa Janell Bell, the defendant failed to report to supervision officer as directed for the month of June 2024 in violation of condition number four.

[00:01:17]>> How do you plead to that? True or not true?

[00:01:20]>> True.

[00:01:22]>> On the supplemental motion, violation condition >> Hold on. Just 1 second. Court does not have a supplemental motion. Who has a supplemental motion?

[00:01:31]>> I did.

[00:01:32]>> Did you review the supplemental motion with your attorney? Did you understand that motion?

[00:01:37]>> Yes, Judge.

[00:01:38]>> Full time.

[00:01:41]>> Yes, sir.

[00:01:42]>> Yes, sir.

[00:01:43]>> That's what we discussed.

[00:01:44]>> We don't have to sign >> All right, did you review the supplemental motion?

[00:01:48]>> Yes, Judge. We did review it.

[00:01:49]>> All right, you may proceed, state.

[00:01:51]>> Violation condition number 16, on or about the 19th day of July, 2024, up in Bear County, Texas, the defendant Marlisa Janelle Bell did then and there contact or attempt to contact Jacob Ziegler in person in violation of condition number 16.

[00:02:07]>> How do you plead to that, true or not true?

[00:02:11]>> Get away with the other allegations.

[00:02:12]>> Any objections?

[00:02:13]>> No objection, Your Honor.

[00:02:14]>> Did you understand by pleading true to violations four and six the court could find it true, grant the motion, and sentence you to four years in the prison?

[00:02:22]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:02:23]>> Knowing that, do you still wish to plead true to violation four and 16?

[00:02:29]I can't hear you.

[00:02:29]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:02:30]Yes, ma'am.

[00:02:31]>> All right. You understand that if >> Well, I'm sorry, Judge.

[00:02:35]>> Yes.

[00:02:35]>> Just for the court's if the court hasn't noticed she is uh 7 months pregnant, so that's kind of where this is going.

[00:02:41]Well, she's here.

[00:02:43]>> I'm here.

[00:02:44]>> But she's tired and this >> Oh, well, I noticed yeah, I noticed she's in yellow.

[00:02:48]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:02:50]>> All right.

[00:02:52]So, you do understand if you have some sort of proposed agreement with the state, the court does not have to follow that agreement. Do you understand?

[00:03:02]>> Me?

[00:03:02]>> Do you Yes, do you understand I can revoke you and send you to prison for four years?

[00:03:06]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:03:06]>> Do you understand that the fact that you're currently pregnant plays no role in that?

[00:03:10]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:03:11]>> All right.

[00:03:13]So, is there a proposed agreement?

[00:03:16]>> No, Your Honor.

[00:03:17]>> All right, State, what are you requesting?

[00:03:19]>> It's requesting revocation.

[00:03:21]>> Defense, what are you requesting?

[00:03:23]>> Uh Your Honor, we're asking the court to give if she has Uh we were asking the court to continue her on her probation. She does have some new cases that she was charged with in Comal County, however, she is on PR bond for those because they were not indicted uh in the proper amount of time and also without getting into the facts of those, but she was in the car with someone else and it's my understanding in my conversations with her that they're making verification of that and that they may or may not be proceeding with that judge, but I do not want to represent to the court that they that I anticipate them being dismissed because I simply cannot say that at this time. Would that be accurate?

[00:04:02]>> Yes, sir.

[00:04:02]>> Okay. But the um so but we are asking the court to take given that she did so well on the first year of this probation. If the court looks at her in TR, she didn't have any failed tests. She did successfully complete her outpatient her intensive outpatient treatment. She has that certificate. We verified that with probation.

[00:04:24]Um she's also expressed a willingness to me uh that she would like to get uh possibly get some additional treatment.

[00:04:33]Um but given her condition, it's my understanding that this time uh she wouldn't be accepted into Safety or one of those at this time. And so what we're asking the court at this time to do is to continue her and possibly follow up with her uh sometime around around February to see maybe to see where the state where where they stand with the case is in Comal. If the She did plead true to not reporting in June, which is true. She did not report in June. But again, she kind of fell off the wagon and also made contact with the gentleman that she was uh ordered not to make contact with. Is that correct?

[00:05:11]>> Yes, sir.

[00:05:12]>> Um and that kind of fit with that also seems to have um resulted in a pregnancy.

[00:05:21]Is that correct?

[00:05:22]>> Yes, sir.

[00:05:22]>> Okay.

[00:05:24]So we're leav- leav- ourselves to the mercy of the court, but she was she she is a motivated uh probationer. She did fall off the wagon. Where she's been since May is in the Comal County Jail.

[00:05:34]Uh there was a warrant put out by this court. They brought her over here.

[00:05:37]Uh and so we're asking the court to give consideration to continuing her on her probation. Uh in the absence of that, we would ask the court to consider um adjudicating her and continuing on her probation condition.

[00:05:48]>> All right.

[00:05:50]>> And we are leaving it to the court.

[00:05:51]>> All right. Any objection to the court reviewing the court summary?

[00:05:53]>> No, your honor.

[00:05:55]>> All right. Do you want to raise your right hand for me?

[00:05:57]Do you solemnly swear affirm the testimony you will be the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

[00:06:01]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:06:02]>> All right. You can lower your hand.

[00:06:04]So, the court ordered that you have no contact with Jacob Ziegler. Why are you having contact with him?

[00:06:10]>> He reached out to me.

[00:06:12]>> I'm sorry, what?

[00:06:12]>> He reached out to me and I am I should I shouldn't have done that and I'm sorry.

[00:06:18]>> No, no, no. There's no need to apologize. So, he reached out to you and you knew you were looking at 4 years prison time, correct?

[00:06:30]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:06:31]>> All right. So, you did a weighing of the you know, you did a balancing test and you said, "Huh, I can't have to contact with Jacob Ziegler and if I do, I'm looking at 4 years in prison, but he's worth it."

[00:06:46]And then according to the court summary, your brother-in-law is taking care I guess your brother-in-law and his wife are taking care of two of your children.

[00:06:56]Is that correct?

[00:06:58]>> Um my brother-in-law no, it's my aunt.

[00:07:00]>> Oh, okay. So, your aunt is taking care of two of your children.

[00:07:05]>> Um three, actually.

[00:07:06]>> Three?

[00:07:07]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:07:08]>> So, you have three children. You're not taking care of them, but you >> But I have had them I've had I've had them the whole time I was on probation.

[00:07:14]>> But you don't, because it says here on July 17th, the field team conducted a field visit and spoke to Ms. Bell's brother-in-law, who stated they had not seen or heard from Ms. Bell in over 2 months and had been trying to locate her with no success.

[00:07:32]Mrs. Bell's brother-in-law also stated that they had been caring for Mrs. Bell's two children since she left the home.

[00:07:41]>> Hey, um I'm thinking on my brother-in-law is.

[00:07:45]>> Okay.

[00:07:45]>> Is the name Is it Is it there?

[00:07:47]>> No, the name is not there. But suffice it to say, they've been looking for you for 2 months. So, for 2 months, if your children were depending on you to provide them with food so they can live, they would have just starved to death.

[00:07:59]>> No, ma'am. No, ma'am. When I fell off, I called my aunt and I let her know um they they've been taking care of them for >> You called your aunt and let her know, I'm going to go be with this Jacob person cuz he reached out to me.

[00:08:14]>> No, I let her know that I messed up and that um I did did I did did I I I did drugs and I was scared and that I couldn't I didn't want to be around my children that way.

[00:08:29]>> All right. So, basically what that means is financially you were not supporting your children. And if your children were dependent upon you to live, they would not have survived because you're not providing them support. You're just making all of these bad decisions and somebody else is paying for your bad decisions. They're supporting your children. Now you went off with this Jacob person that there was supposed to be no contact with. And the only thing that you've come back with is pregnant with his child. And for the court to say that you're you're to have no contact with him, obviously he was not a good person to be in your life.

[00:09:03]>> You got to speak up.

[00:09:04]>> All right.

[00:09:05]So, the court is finding violations four and six true.

[00:09:09]The court is going to grant the motion, revoke you.

[00:09:12]And the court is going to sentence you to 4 years in the prison, give you credit for any time served. There's to be no contact with Jacob Ziegler and there's to be no unsupervised contact with minors.

[00:09:31]Did you review the document entitled Trial Court Certification of Defendant's Rights to Appeal with your attorney. Did you understand it?

[00:09:39]>> Yes.

[00:09:40]>> And did you sign it?

[00:09:42]>> Yes, I did. That's still appealing for me.

[00:09:44]>> All right. You have a limited right to appeal. That right to appeal is as it relates to the allegations in the motion, not the fact that you were on community supervision. Because this is a felony conviction, you're not allowed to own or possess any weapons or ammunition. If you have a question over what a weapon or ammunition is, you'll need to speak to an attorney. I'll recommend the therapeutic community for her. I have no jurisdiction to place you in a therapeutic community, but if you ask for it, they will place you in it.

[00:10:11]Mhm?

[00:10:12]>> When do I ask?

[00:10:13]>> Oh, just ask at the prison and let them know.

[00:10:16]All right, we can go off the record.

[00:10:17]Here's the thing.

[00:10:19]Everybody wants little babies when they're born cuz they're so cute. So, you had better reach out to your family cuz Child Protective Services is going to come knocking at the prison.

[00:10:28]So, unless you have someone >> My aunt is going to take care of my kids.

[00:10:31]>> All right, so you need to have let your aunt know, and counsel, can you can you get in contact with her aunt? Because time that baby's delivered, she needs to have somebody there that's been pre-approved by Child Protective Services to take the child.

[00:10:46]All right, good luck to you.

[00:10:47]>> Judge Boyd didn't blink. She revoked Marlisa Bell's probation and handed down four solid years in a Texas state prison. This case wasn't just about a failed drug test or [music] a missed appointment. This was about a mother who chose her own reckless impulses over her three helpless children and the law.

[00:11:05]Today, Judge Boyd stood up for those kids.

[00:11:08]>> [music] >> She didn't let a pregnancy become an excuse for zero accountability. Justice wasn't just served in this courtroom, it was delivered with absolute [music] common sense. Now, we want to hear from you. Do you think the judge was too harsh given her pregnancy, or did this mother get exactly the reality check she deserved? Drop your thoughts in the comments below, and don't forget to hit that subscribe [music] button for more real courtroom justice.