Man at center of North Austin homicide has extensive criminal history: records

AUSTIN, Texas - The man at the center of a North Austin homicide investigation this week has an extensive criminal history, court records revealed.

"What's their incentive to stop committing crime?" Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock said.

Noah Mata, 36, has a criminal history dating back to at least 2006.

"If you don't stop things early on, then, one, you're continuing to harm businesses, you're harming the public, you're failing to produce a high quality of life for people who live here, and you're punishing them when really you should be punishing criminals," Bullock said.

Mata has been charged with about 40 crimes in Travis County including driving while intoxicated, assault, possession, fleeing from police, driving with a suspended license, burglary, and theft.

"At some point after you've given somebody a chance, right? You have to be willing to enforce the law and to do so vigorously," Bullock said.

RELATED: Woman killed by gunshot fired from apartment next door, police say

The most recent incident happened on Saturday, Nov. 16. 

Police said Mata was inside his apartment with three other people. He claims he didn’t know their names. Mata said one of them had a gun, and he planned on taking it from him. Mata said he took pictures of it and then put it in his pocket. He said the man tried to get it back and they wrestled. Eventually, the other man was able to get it. He fired a shot at Mata and that bullet went through the wall and hit a woman, killing her.

Mata was charged with aggravated robbery. Court documents revealed Mata had an active warrant at the time for driving with an invalid license.

"Officers see and interact with these individuals multiple times, and we see the patterns, but yet officers make arrests, they enforce the law, and then they get referred over to the county and the district attorney, to judges, to the criminal justice system, and then they're dismissed, they're pled down, they're given very light handed sentencing," Bullock said.

Of the 30 misdemeanor crimes listed on Mata’s rap sheet, only nine were prosecuted and Mata was sentenced to time behind bars for anywhere between 2 days to 180 days.

Of the 10 felonies listed, the sentences ranged from probation to two years in prison. Two of the sentences were combined, even though the arrest dates are four months apart. After more than 14 years of committing crimes, one felony possession charge was dismissed when Mata agreed to drug treatment. He was arrested about a year later. Now, a woman is dead.

"We have a lot of great things here, and we can't lose the essence of our city just because we want to have soft on crime policies. It's harming our city and the public, not criminals," Bullock said.

Mata is being held in the Travis County Jail on this first-degree felony charge on just a $20,000 bond. As for the person who fired the gun early in the morning, police have not named the suspect.

The Travis County Attorney did not respond to FOX 7’s request for comment.