Montgomery County

Brian Keith Balentine told jurors he

thought he had already paid his debt to

society, a prosecutor said.

Brian Keith Balentine said he had paid his debt to society.

But a Montgomery County jury thought otherwise on Thursday, sentencing the paroled murderer to life in prison for shoplifting five compact discs last year from a Wal-Mart in Conroe.

Jurors learned of Balentine's criminal past during the punishment phase of his robbery trial.

That past included murder — the shooting death 25 years ago of a man trying to protect his new wife — and for several subsequent counts of theft.

Balentine told the jurors he thought he had already paid his debt to society, said Brett Peabody, a Montgomery County prosecutor.

“They agreed with us that he just needed to go away for the rest of his life,” said Peabody “He was not going to be able to adapt to life in the free world with honest people.”

In August 1984, Leroy and Marilyn Larson were returning home from their honeymoon in Galveston when they spotted Balentine and his older brother, Terry Balentine, standing next to their apparently disabled car at a rest stop in Freestone County — about midway between Houston and Dallas.

“The Larsons stopped to help. They were being Good Samaritans,” Peabody said.

Instead, the newlyweds were forced at gunpoint to drive along back roads while the brothers plotted their next move.

“They discussed the ways they were going to molest the young lady,” Peabody said.

Leroy Larson grabbed the steering wheel, forcing the car off the road. One of the brothers opened fire. Leroy Larson was shot twice.

Marilyn Larson grabbed the keys from the ignition and ran. They began shooting at her.

She was struck twice but managed to flag down a passing Department of Public Safety trooper.

The brothers received three life sentences. Brian Balentine, now 43, was released on parole in August 2006, Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials said. His brother, now 47, remains in prison.

Marilyn Larson is believed to be still living in the Dallas area. Peabody said Freestone County authorities will notify her of the new conviction.

Since his release from prison in 2006, Balentine has been linked to at least three additional thefts.

The jury convicted him for a March 20, 2008, shoplifting incident at Wal-Mart at 18700 Highway 105 West.

Consecutive sentences

He was charged with robbery rather than theft because he had injured the store's loss prevention officer who tried to detain him, officials said.

Days before that arrest, Balentine completed a 30-day jail sentence for a Harris County theft case.

Because of his violent criminal past, Balentine was charged with first-degree rather than second-degree robbery in the Conroe case.

Peabody said Balentine's parole for the 1984 murder case will likely be revoked. The trial judge on Thursday ordered that the life sentences will now run consecutively.

“Which really means he is never going to get out of prison,“ Peabody said.

Balentine will remain at the Montgomery County Jail until Texas prison officials take custody of him.

Attorney Earl Pryor, who represented Balentine during the trial, said he was disappointed with the life sentence the jury gave his client for a crime involving a handful of stolen CDs. “I was shocked,” Pryor said. “I was beyond shocked.”

Pryor knew that the prosecutors would bring up the 1984 murder conviction during the punishment phase of the trial but said he didn't realize the impact it would have on the jury.

“There's no doubt in my mind that they wanted to re-punish him some more for that case,“ he said. They just couldn't get past his past.”