A Spring mother says her 17-year-old son spent 48 hours in jail after Harris County Constable Precinct 4 deputies arrested the wrong person for aggravated assault, and now she's stuck with nearly $7,000 in legal costs to clear his record.
Rosland Wright told ABC13 that deputies arrested her son, Leonard King, at the apartment complex where they live in Spring sometime in July. Court documents show a deputy identified King as a suspect in an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon based on a school photo ID card and a physical description provided by a juvenile victim.
King, who is 17, was charged as an adult. Wright said she was not given information about her son's whereabouts because of his age.
After King spent two days in custody, Wright found video evidence of the assault on social media and brought it to law enforcement and the Harris County District Attorney's office. Court documents state that after reviewing the footage, deputies concluded "the originally identified individual was not responsible for committing the offense."
Precinct 4 confirmed the charges were dropped and said the correct suspect was later arrested. Wright said the only thing the actual suspect and her son have in common is their first name.
The constable's office also posted a photo of King's arrest on its social media page before the charges were dismissed.
"When it comes to that, getting this expunged and smoothed over, it is left on me to fit the bill of the $5,000, $1,500 retainer fee, $398 filing fee, and it's just left up to me to clean it up," Wright told ABC13.
Wright's total comes to roughly $6,898. Under Texas law, expunging a dismissed arrest is not automatic. According to the Harris County District Clerk's Office, the individual must file a petition, pay court costs and notify every agency that holds a record of the arrest. The base filing fee for an expunction is $350, with additional fees for each agency notified. Neither the courts nor the arresting agency covers the cost.
Precinct 4, led by Constable Mark Herman, did not answer ABC13's specific questions about how the misidentification occurred. In a statement, the office said deputies "located an individual believed to be the suspect" based on information the victim provided.
The Harris County District Attorney's office had not responded to ABC13's inquiry about the case as of Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026.
Wright said she wants the agency that made the mistake to bear the cost of fixing it. The family has not yet filed an expungement petition, and no hearing date has been set.
