Updated October 1, 2026
A former Fort Hood soldier whose alleged assault of a pregnant fellow soldier was captured on video will serve no jail or prison time after pleading guilty to a felony strangulation charge and separately admitting guilt to assaulting the woman while she was pregnant.
New Coryell County court records obtained by The Salty Soldier show that Private First Class Jimmy Lee Rodriguez pleaded guilty to Assault Family Violence Impeding Breath or Circulation, a third degree felony.
Judge Grant Kinsey did not sentence Rodriguez to jail or prison. Instead, the judge placed him under court supervision for 10 years and ordered him to pay a $1,000 fine and $339 in court costs.
The sentence is legally known as deferred adjudication community supervision. In plain terms, Rodriguez pleaded guilty, but the judge did not enter a formal finding of guilt. Instead, Rodriguez will spend the next 10 years under court ordered supervision.
The new records also answer a major question left unresolved when The Salty Soldier first reported on the case in June: what happened to the separate felony charge accusing Rodriguez of assaulting the woman while she was pregnant?
That charge did not simply disappear.
In a separate agreement signed by Rodriguez, his attorney and the prosecutor, Rodriguez admitted guilt to Assault of a Pregnant Person. He asked the court to consider that offense when determining his punishment in the strangulation case.
The court agreed. The pregnant person assault was considered in determining Rodriguez’s punishment, and the state was barred from separately prosecuting him for that offense.
The result is that Rodriguez pleaded guilty to felony strangulation, admitted guilt to assaulting the woman while she was pregnant, and received no jail or prison sentence.
Video Captured Part of the Alleged Abuse
As part of its investigation, The Salty Soldier obtained video evidence that appears to show part of the incident referenced in the criminal case.
The woman shown in the video requested anonymity and asked not to be publicly identified. She told The Salty Soldier that she was serving on active duty in the U.S. Army at the time of the incident and was approximately six months pregnant. She has since honorably separated from military service.
The full, unedited footage is available exclusively to age verified subscribers of The Salty Soldier Uncensored, who wish to review the evidence in its entirety and full context.
Rodriguez was arrested by the Copperas Cove Police Department on July 25, 2025. A department daily bulletin listed allegations including assault on a pregnant person, assault with bodily injury family violence and unlawful restraint.
A Coryell County grand jury later indicted Rodriguez on two third degree felony charges: Assault of a Pregnant Person and Assault Family Violence Impeding Breath or Circulation.
Each charge originally carried a potential punishment of two to 10 years in prison under Texas law.
Victim Had Warned Against Probation
Before Rodriguez was sentenced, the woman told The Salty Soldier that she had been informed by the Assistant District Attorney and her victim advocate that Rodriguez was seeking probation.
She said she was also told that the prosecutor did not agree with that outcome and intended to ask the judge for more than five years in prison.
Those conversations were described to The Salty Soldier by the woman and were not documented in the court records available to the publication at the time.
The newly obtained sentencing records now confirm that Rodriguez ultimately received no jail or prison time and was instead placed on 10 years of deferred adjudication community supervision.
In a statement provided to The Salty Soldier before the outcome was known, the woman specifically warned against that possibility.
“Domestic violence, particularly involving strangulation and a pregnant victim, is an extremely serious offense,” she said. “Justice requires accountability, and accountability is necessary to protect victims and help prevent future acts of violence.”
She also argued that Rodriguez’s military service or personal accomplishments should not outweigh his conduct.
“Accomplishments and titles do not erase abusive conduct,” she said. “A person’s character should be judged not only by how they present themselves publicly, but also by how they treat others behind closed doors.”
Army Deferred Case to Command While State Prosecuted Rodriguez
New information from the U.S. Army Office of Special Trial Counsel also clarifies what happened on the military side of the case.
Michelle McCaskill, director of communications for Army OSTC, told The Salty Soldier that OSTC deferred the Rodriguez case to his command on Nov. 5, 2025, because Texas authorities were already prosecuting him.
“OSTC deferred this case to the command on November 5, 2025, based upon the state’s prosecution of the case,” McCaskill said.
That means OSTC did not move forward with its own court martial prosecution while the civilian criminal case was pending.
The Army had previously confirmed that Rodriguez was assigned to the 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Hood and that military leadership knew about his July 2025 arrest.
“The command is aware of the July 2025 arrest by the Copperas Cove Police Department and continues to cooperate fully with civilian law enforcement regarding this matter,” Capt. Russell Shirley Jones, Public Affairs Officer for the 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, previously told The Salty Soldier.
The Army also said at the time that “the command has taken additional appropriate actions, which are not publicly releasable.”
The Army did not disclose what those actions were.
The woman previously told The Salty Soldier that Rodriguez’s chain of command never contacted her about the allegations despite her being an active duty Army soldier at the time.
She further said Army criminal investigators told her in approximately October 2025 that there was insufficient evidence to pursue action. The Salty Soldier has not independently obtained the CID investigative file or established what evidence investigators had when that determination was allegedly communicated to her.
Rodriguez Was Administratively Separated From Army
OSTC also confirmed that Rodriguez is no longer serving in the Army.
“The Soldier was administratively separated from the service in August 2026 and is no longer subject to prosecution under the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” McCaskill said.
The Army did not provide the exact date of Rodriguez’s separation or disclose the characterization, basis or administrative authority for the separation.
The timing is significant because Rodriguez’s civilian criminal case also reached its disposition in August.
By the time The Salty Soldier asked whether OSTC was considering military charges following Rodriguez’s guilty plea, the Army said Rodriguez had already been separated from the service and was no longer subject to UCMJ prosecution.
Questions Remain About the Civilian Sentence
The court records establish the outcome of Rodriguez’s civilian case but do not explain why Judge Kinsey chose 10 years of deferred adjudication rather than incarceration.
The sentencing order describes Rodriguez’s plea as an “open plea,” meaning the judge determined the punishment rather than simply imposing a sentence agreed upon in advance.
The available court records also do not establish what punishment prosecutors actually requested during the sentencing hearing.
That remains significant because the woman previously told The Salty Soldier that the Assistant District Attorney intended to seek more than five years in prison and opposed Rodriguez’s request for probation.
The Salty Soldier is seeking additional records concerning the sentencing hearing to determine what punishment prosecutors requested, what the defense sought and what arguments were presented before the judge placed Rodriguez on deferred adjudication.
What is now clear is that Rodriguez pleaded guilty to felony strangulation, admitted guilt to assaulting a pregnant soldier, received no jail or prison time in the civilian case and was administratively separated from the Army without a military prosecution.
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