Wednesday, August 14th:
*Status Hearing (@ am ET) – LA – Meing-Chen (“Mandy”) Hsiao (34) (last seen July 29, 2015, Monroe; found Aug. 8, 2015) – *Quentin Verdell Tellis (27) charged (8/16/16), indicted (5/17/19) & arraigned (6/18/19) with 2nd degree murder.
8/19/15: Was arrested for 3 counts of unauthorized use of an access card & 1 count of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Plead guilty (5/12/16) to 1 count of unauthorized use of access card. Tellis’ plea deal saw the possession with intent charge severed from the agreement but not dismissed. He could face that charge in the future. The habitual offender status doubled the maximum penalty for his charge from a 5 year sentence to a 10 year hard labor sentence that will run concurrently with any other sentences.
Tellis also agreed to waive an extradition hearing & will/was return to Mississippi where he will face capital murder charges in connection with the December 2014 death of Jessica Chambers, 19. Quinton Tellis, who was charged in the 2014 Panola County burning death of Jessica Chambers, has been accused of torturing Hsiao to death on her bedroom floor. He was indicted in the Mississippi homicide as he sat in jail in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, in February 24, 2016 & then an arrest warrant for the Louisiana homicide was filed on Thursday, July 12, 2016 as he sat in jail in DeSoto County, Mississippi. Results of Jessica Chambers’ case; first trial ended in mistrial; 7-5 for State; retrial started Sept 24, 2018. Retrial ends (10/1/18) in another mistral; 6-6 split. No info on whether DA will retry this a 3rd time. Tellis being shipped back to Louisiana.
1/19/19: In May 2016, Tellis entered a guilty plea to one count of unauthorized use of an access card in 4th Judicial District Court for using Hsiao's debit card after her death. He received a 10-year sentence as a habitual offender. If Tellis served his full sentence, he would be released on Aug.19, 2025, but he is eligible for early release with the accrual of good time. Tellis only needs to serve 35 percent of his sentence & has an early release date, per the Dept of Corrections, of Feb. 18, 2019.
Tellis will return to Ouachita Parish when his current sentence at Louisiana State Penitentiary concludes, according to District Attorney Steve Tew. Tew said a warrant is on file for Tellis on charges of first degree murder, and the DA's office is reviewing the case. He also indicated he believes his office will go forward with a murder case. Tew did not say if a grand jury will be convened for Tellis to determine final charges or if the DA's office intends to file a bill of information.
2/18/19 Update: Booked (2/19/19) on 1st degree murder charge into Ouachita Correctional Center. A Grand Jury will be convened, no set date yet.
5/17/19 Update: Indicted on 2nd degree murder of Meing-Chen. 6/18/19: Arraignment, plead not guilty.
7/2/19 Update: Prosecution filed a discovery motion to inspect evidence the defense plans to use at trial. The state also filled the defense's motion for discovery on the same day.
8/5/19 Update: Next Status hearing on 8/14.
I'll be shortening this up a bit.
