In 1990, Smith County convicted Jacksonville, TX resident Bobby Michael Dennis on his third felony for Aggravated Robbery. He was sentenced to 5 years TDCJ Huntsville. After his third strike, Cherokee County arrested Bobby Dennis in 2011 for AGGRAVATED ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON, released him on a $20,000 bond and back onto the streets of Jacksonville. Almost 15 years later, it took nearly killing a police officer to get federal prosecutors involved in Bobby Dennis' dismissed gun charges.
(Nov. 19, 2025) The Eastern District of Texas U.S. Attorney’s Office has charged Bobby Michael Dennis, 64, on federal firearms violations after a four-day manhunt in the Jacksonville area early this month. Dennis opened fire with a stolen AR-15 on a Jacksonville police officer issuing an outstanding arrest warrant stemming from a firearm theft in June 2025. Following the shooting, Dennis was placed on Texas' 10 Most Wanted Fugitive Lists and Gov. Greg Abbott's office tacked on an additional $10,000 reward for his capture. Bobby Dennis' local bond is set at $1.3 million. He faces life in prison.
What happens in Cherokee County stays in Cherokee County.Bobby Dennis had been convicted in Arkansas for felony domestic violence and drug possession; and again in 1990 for aggravated robbery in Smith County, Texas. He was released from prison 5 years later. That didn't stop him spending the next 15 years driving around drunk and high without a license or insurance in Cherokee County. Beginning in 2005, Bobby Dennis was arrested over ten times for the same crimes, but never saw inside a Cherokee County courtroom after his charges miraculously vanished with "time served in the Rusk jail" and unenforced probation deals. In June of this year alone, he was arrested during a traffic stop and released on nine charges:
#1 THEFT OF FIREARM
#2 Unlicensed carrying weapon (by a felon)
#3 Possession of marijuana less than 2 ounces
#4 Speeding
#5 No motor vehicle liability insurance
#6 Violation promise to appear for speeding
#7 Failure to display license plates
#8 No motor veh liability, 2nd offense
#9 Failure to appear
According to Cherokee County arrest records, three-time felon Bobby Dennis was arrested for multiple drug, gun, and motor vehicle violations over the years, released on bail, and not prosecuted. 20 years of Cherokee County, TX criminal cases against Bobby Dennis, a Jacksonville resident with three prior felony convictions:
06/19/2005 - DUI/Fake license plates
11/29/2007 - Motion to Adjudicate DUI
04/26/2011 - Aggravated assault w/deadly weapon
04/15/2016 - 2nd DUI
12/12/2018 - Motion to Withdraw 2nd DUI charge
01/15/2019 - DUI "2nd" Offense
09/11/2020 - Violation of bond
11/13/2024 - Speeding, failure to appear, no insurance
06/25/2025 - Theft of firearm, marijuana, speeding, no insurance
11/05/2025 - Attempted capital murder of a police officer
Three strikes and he's still in the game.
By 2017, Bobby Dennis' relationship with Jacksonville authorities began to detoriate into interlocal disputes. What to do to with a habitual offender getting too old to be of value to the district attorney and narcotics officers? Dennis' encounters with Jacksonville police escalated over the years as his multiple charges continued to be dismissed. According to local accounts, law enforcement's catch-and-release was just an entertaining game of cat and mouse. In 2024, Dennis filed a civil lawsuit against the City of Jacksonville claiming his rights were being violated by the municipal judge, city attorney, and police department. The suit was dismissed October 2, 2025. Eastern District of Texas (Case No. 6:24-cv-00247)
Getting Greg Abbott's attention.
To reward Cherokee County district courts on their stellar performances this week, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed the 369th District Court judge as the interim 12th Court of Appeals justice. Michael Davis sits on former 369th District Judge Bascom Bentley's bench for the counties of Anderson, Cherokee and Leon. His appointment to the Tyler Court of Appeals vacancy begins Nov.1 and is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2026. Abbott's and Davis' offices have made no public comment on how many times convicted felons possessing firearms have had their charges dropped before shooting police officers. Abbott also shuffled the Cherokee County District Attorney into Judge Davis' vacated 369th District Court position. The area has not only become one of Abbott's favorite neck of the woods, but for those repeat offenders who should have been incarcerated long ago under Texas' Three Strikes Law. (Source: Office of the Texas Governor | Greg Abbott)
District judges serving Cherokee County can swear they've never seen the likes of Bobby Dennis in their courtrooms. (KETK).
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