Judge: State Never Proved 6 Houston Children Were Endangered

A state district judge who denied a request to keep six siblings — recently murdered in Houston — in foster care says he wasn’t provided enough evidence two years ago to keep the children removed from their family.

In 2013, Judge Glenn Devlin ordered the six children belonging to Valerie Jackson out of foster care to resume living with their mother, against the wishes of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. That, Devlin said Wednesday in a prepared statement, was because there was “insufficient evidence to give temporary managing conservatorship” to the state at that time.

"There was never mentioned any threats or present physical abuse on any party," he said, adding that the state "never claimed there was any danger to the children."

On Saturday, Harris County Sheriff's Office deputies discovered the children: Nathaniel Conley, 13; Dwayne Jackson Jr., 10; Honesty Jackson, 11; Caleb Jackson, 9; Jonah Jackson, 6; and Trinity Jackson, 7; along with their 40-year-old mother and father to all but the oldest, Dwayne Jackson, 50, fatally shot in their north Houston home. David Ray Conley, father of the oldest child, was charged Sunday with multiple counts of capital murder.

Devlin said that at least one of the children had been physically abused while in the care of a foster family.