A man handing out food in west Houston was shot and killed early Wednesday. Now records show the man charged in his death once had four felony charges dropped.

Otis Parks, 30, is charged with capital murder in the death of John D. Donat, 58. Capital murder is the top murder charge in Texas. The case is in the 208th Criminal District Court.

Houston police say the shooting was about 2:20 a.m. on Sept. 30 on South Highway 6. Officers found Donat shot. His Chevrolet Tahoe had crashed through a wood fence by a parking lot. Medics said he was dead at the scene.

Witnesses told police Donat was driving the Tahoe and offering food to people. They said a man came to the passenger side and demanded money. One woman said she walked away. A short time later, she heard gunshots and then the Tahoe crash into the fence. Other witnesses told of the shots, the crash and a man running away.

Police got a description of the man. Officers nearby found someone who matched it. They held him and asked him questions. He went to the Harris County Jail on a different charge. Police say more work led to the murder charge against Parks.

Records show Parks had an earlier case. He was sentenced to seven years in prison in a 2018 aggravated assault case. The most he could have gotten was 20 years.

Parks waited in the Harris County Jail to go to prison. Records show he got four more felony charges there. They were for assaulting jailers and having contraband. Contraband means items banned in jail.

Prosecutors dropped all four. Court documents say he was already serving time for the assault.

Records also show a judge found Parks unfit for trial for a time in 2020. A judge ruled him fit in 2021. That same day, prosecutors moved to drop two of the charges. They asked to drop a third the next day. The fourth was dropped months before his fitness was ever in question.

Why did prosecutors drop the cases? Court documents give a reason. Joe Vinas is a defense attorney who is not on the case. He thinks there may be more to it. "It looks like there's more in addition to that," Vinas said.

Vinas gave two ideas. He said prosecutors may have worried Parks could plead insanity. He also said it could have been strategy. "It could have been a strategy point by the state to just say, 'Let's cut our losses, we've got him on a pretty serious aggravated offense,'" Vinas said. He was guessing. He was not part of those cases.

A spokesperson for the District Attorney's Office said the choice came before Sean Teare took office in 2025. "We're not able to comment on the prosecutorial decisions that were made during the previous administration," the spokesperson said.

Vinas said Parks' lawyer could argue that Parks was unfit or insane. Parks' attorney declined to comment on the murder case.

The murder case is still new. Police say their work led to the charge.

Everyone is presumed innocent until proved otherwise.