Aryan Brotherhood of Texas member dodges possible life prison term in race-related jail assault

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas and an eight-time convicted felon dodged a potential life prison term Thursday after the victim of a savage race-related jail assault was deported and not available to testify against him.

Travis Lee Leighton, 37, had been charged with aggravated assault as a habitual criminal and faced a minimum of 25 years in prison up to life in the March 2023 assault on Flavio Barrera Alvilez at the Jack Harwell Detention Center in Waco.

However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials sent Alvilez back to his home country before Leighton’s case was resolved, leaving McLennan County prosecutors scrambling in an effort to prove the aggravated assault case against Leighton.

As a result, Leighton, who currently is serving a federal prison term for weapon possession by a felon, pleaded guilty Thursday to Class A misdemeanor assault in exchange for a 365-day jail term.

As 19th State District Judge Thomas West reviewed the plea papers, he asked prosecutor Christi Hunting Horse how the case went from a habitual criminal charge and a possible life sentence to a misdemeanor.

“Unfortunately, in this particular case, the aggravated assault was predicated on serious bodily injury,” Hunting Horse said after the brief hearing. “There was no weapon used in the jail. Instead, it was all going to be based on whether or not he had scarring on his forehead as a result of that assault.”

Hunting Horse said Alvilez reportedly is back in Texas, and investigators tried in vain to find him so he could testify against Leighton.

“At that point, without being able to see his face and document his current state of injuries or scarring, we can’t prove serious bodily injury,” she said. “We are stuck without the victim.  We can still prove assault, because we have the video. It is a video that he absolutely would have been convicted on for misdemeanor assault. So that’s why the state was very comfortable at least moving forward on that so we could get justice for this particular victim.”

According to arrest records, Alvilez and three other Hispanic men were sitting around a table playing cards when it appeared Leighton, a documented member of the white supremacist and neo-Nazi prison and street gang, walked over and confronted him.

The video shows Leighton “sucker punching” Alvilez in the ribcage and then slamming his forehead with his knee.

Alvilez suffered a broken nose and bruised ribs and required four stitches to close a gash in his forehead, according to an arrest affidavit.

“It is disappointing to the state that we couldn’t find Mr. Alvilez, that we couldn’t have him back for this,” Hunting Horse said. “Because I do believe that it was racially motivated and I believe all individuals, whether you are in this country legally or not, should be able to be in this country and not be assaulted. You should have justice done, so that makes me disappointed that we couldn’t get that for him. So we got what we could get.”

Besides the federal firearms conviction, court records show Leighton has felony convictions for burglary of a building in Wilson County; unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and unlawful possession of body armor by a felon, both in Bell County; evading arrest and possession of a controlled substance, both in Coryell County; and evading arrest and possesson of a controlled substance, both in Bell County.