Heroin death of Boone Pickens' grandson: Suspect arrested again

FORT WORTH, Texas — Brennan Rodriguez is back in prison nearly a decade after being charged with first-degree murder for fatally injecting the grandson of Dallas billionaire T. Boone Pickens with heroin, court and prison records show.

Jail records show that Rodriguez was arrested on Thursday, August 15, for stalking. The details of the case are not yet known. He is being held in jail without bail, according to records.

Rodriguez, now 33, pleaded guilty to trafficking in controlled substances that led to the death of Ty Pickens in 2013. In 2014, he agreed to 10 years probation as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Rodriguez and Pickens were both TCU students at the time of the incident.

As part of his probation, Rodriguez served four months in jail. Now he is back in the Tarrant County Jail just three months before the end of his probation, according to court records.

First-time offenders are usually offered a stay of conviction. It allows those who plead guilty to avoid a jury trial and conviction. When an offender completes the stay of conviction, it can often be kept under seal.

If an offender violates the terms of the stay of conviction, the district attorney may ask a judge to find the person guilty and sentence him or her to a term of imprisonment within the statutory limits of the original charge.

District Attorney Phil Sorrels filed a petition Friday affirming that Rodriguez violated the terms of his sentence by committing the offense of stalking. The petition asks Rodriguez to appear in court and present evidence as to why the court should not find him guilty of delivery of a controlled substance.

The public prosecutor's office declined to comment on pending cases.

When Rodriguez's plea deal was announced, Pickens' family issued a statement expressing gratitude that prosecutors had been able to get justice for their son without subjecting the family to trial.

“Today's guilty plea confirms what we always knew – our son was not a heroin addict,” the statement said at the time. “He was bullied by Brennan Rodriguez.”