Family plotted to kill ex-wife and judge presiding over custody case, Texas cops say
A man’s ex-girlfriend recalled a 2023 family meeting when a man and his parents spoke of a plot to kill the man’s ex-wife and the Texas judge presiding over the man’s child’s custody case, Texas deputies said.
She reported it to police, and the tip eventually connected Clinton Harmon to a break-in shooting of a couple in March, the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office said at a Sept. 18 news conference.
Now, Harmon, his mother, Teresa Harmon, and adoptive father Matt Harmon are facing charges. The parents are charged with retaliation in connection with the plot to kill a Williamson County judge while their son, Clinton Harmon, is facing an attempted capital murder charge.
Attorney information for the family was not available.
In March, Clinton Harmon broke into a Liberty Hill home and shot his ex-wife 11 times and shot her boyfriend twice, Sheriff Mike Gleason said.
“By the grace of God they survived,” Williamson County District Attorney Shawn Dick said during the news conference.
At the time of the shooting, the ex-wife identified Clinton Harmon as the potential shooter, deputies said.
Harmon and his ex-wife were in a custody dispute over their 7-year-old child, who was not home at the time of the shooting, deputies said.
The man had been frustrated over financial situations and his ex-wife’s relationship with her boyfriend, text messages showed, according to Gleason.
In July, Harmon’s ex-girlfriend in Louisiana told police about a family meeting where they “discussed ways to murder the victim” and judge by using fentanyl and “thugs from Austin” to carry out the crime, Gleason said. 2:00
“I’m just telling you,” Matt Harmon said during the family meeting, according to deputies. “I’ll do 10 to 20 to get that grandbaby.”
Clinton Harmon had planned a route to his ex-wife’s home that avoided toll roads and cameras so he could say he had been at home that night, Gleason said. But Harmon did not know his SUV had a GPS tracker placed by the vehicle lien holder that showed he was only 0.4 miles away from his ex-wife’s home, the sheriff said.
Clinton Harmon was arrested on Sept. 8 in Louisiana as he was trying to board a plane, deputies said. His bond is set at $2 million and he is awaiting extradition back to Texas.
The parents were arrested on Sept. 16 in Bastrop County, Gleason said. Their bond is set at $1 million.
Williamson County is about a 40-mile drive north from Austin. Bastrop County is about a 35-mile drive southwest from Austin.
This story was originally published September 19, 2024 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Family plotted to kill ex-wife and judge presiding over custody case, Texas cops say."
