Houston man charged in Harris County deputy slaying to be held without bond

Robert Solis, 47, who is accussed in the shooting death of Harris County Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, appears to Judge Chris Morton at the Harris County Criminal Courthouse on Monday, Sept. 30, 2019, in Houston. 6.2.6 less Robert Solis, 47, who is accussed in the shooting death of Harris County Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, appears to Judge Chris Morton at the Harris County Criminal Courthouse on Monday, Sept. 30, 2019, in Houston. ... more Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff Photographer Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 38 Caption Close Houston man charged in Harris County deputy slaying to be held without bond 1 / 38 Back to Gallery

Shoulders slightly hunched as he silently shuffled into court in orange jail scrubs, the Houston man charged with capital murder in the shooting death of a Harris County sheriff's deputy faced a judge Monday, hearing stern words about his possible fate before he was sent back to jail with no bond.

"It is a likely outcome that death will be the sentence here," Judge Chris Morton told accused killer Robert Solis, pointing to the severity of the potential punishment as a reason to keep the 47-year-old behind bars.

Solis was already on the run with an active parole warrant when Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal pulled him over for a traffic violation mid-day Friday in the Cypress area. As Dhaliwal - the county's first Sikh deputy and a "trailblazer" in the sheriff's office - walked back to his patrol car, Solis allegedly ran up and shot him from behind.

Afterward, authorities arrested him as he walked out of a Marble Slab Creamery.

"He is a danger to our society," prosecutor Katie Warren told the court Monday. "He showed signs of trying to flee."

Before Friday's arrest, Solis already had a history of violence, including a string of past convictions Warren outlined in court when asking the judge to continue holding him without bond. Solis was convicted of two felonies in 2002 after records show a jury found him guilty of shooting a man and then barricading himself in his home with his 4-year-old son, intending to use the boy "as a shield."

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for those crimes, and was released on parole in 2014. Three years later, authorities put out a warrant for violating parole and illegally possessing a weapon.

That warrant - which could have sent him back to prison - was still active Friday, when Dhaliwal pulled him over just before 1 p.m. on Willancy Court. When the 10-year veteran walked over to the silver Nissan Altima, he and Solis appeared to have a normal conversation, according to deputies who reviewed dashcam footage.

Sitting behind the wheel, Solis turned to the woman next to him in the front seat and said he had "tickets." As the traffic stop unfolded, she eventually asked Dhaliwal for permission to leave the scene, and a male friend picked her up a little before the shooting started.

After the two drove off, Dhaliwal was walking back to the patrol car to run Solis's driver's license when Solis stepped out of his vehicle with a gun and ran toward the deputy, prosecutors said. After the shooting, he allegedly got back in the car and drove away.

When authorities arrived, they found Dhaliwal lying in the street where he'd been shot. The wounded lawman was flown to a hospital, while deputies at the scene worked to find his shooter.

Using dashcam and bodycam footage, Warren told the court, deputies put together a description of the suspected shooter and his vehicle, including the license plate number. They found the car, empty, in a nearby Kroger parking lot and set up a perimeter - then arrested Solis as he left the ice cream store.

He wouldn't give deputies his name and refused to cooperate, Warren said. While authorities were arresting him, the woman he'd been with in the car showed up at the scene, along with the man who picked her up.

They both told investigators that Solis had called them separately and confessed to the shooting, then asked them to pick him up.

"They, of course, didn't," Warren said.

Investigating deputies also found security images that appeared to show Solis pulling something from his pants and tossing it in a dumpster. When authorities checked the dumpster, they found a .45-caliber gun - the same caliber allegedly used in the deputy's slaying.

Prosecutors said Monday that they haven't yet determined whether to seek the death penalty in the case, but Allan Isbell - the defense lawyer appointed to represent Solis - acknowledged after court that it would not be an unusual move in a case involving the slaying of a lawman.

"A capital murder case of course is either life without parole or the death penalty," he added. "Unless they decide not to seek the death penalty, he's not entitled to a bond."

His client was "subdued," he said, adding that they'd only spoken for a few minutes and he didn't know whether the man felt any remorse.

As she left the courtroom Monday morning, Warren sought to refocus the conversation on the slain deputy instead of on his alleged killer.

"Right now, this community is in mourning," she said. "Right now is not the time to talk about the defendant but rather right now is the time to talk about Deputy Dhaliwal and the amazing legacy that he left for this community. That's all I have to say."

Funeral services for long-time deputy are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Cypress Fairbanks ISD Berry Center, with a Sikh religious ceremony followed by a law enforcement ceremony at 11:30 a.m.