ONLY ON ABC-7: Man accused of kidnapping, raping woman released from jail

The man taken into custody in a dramatic arrest last month along 1-10 and Cotton was released Wednesday night from jail on his own recognizance, according to jail records.

50-year old Mark Morris Weiss was arrested May 14 after allegedly kidnapping a woman in Houston and repeatedly sexually assaulting her.

Court documents state the victim told investigators Weiss walked up behind her, grabbed her and placed her inside his truck against her will. The victim told investigators Weiss raped her on several occasions inside hotel rooms and vehicles.

The victim told police she was “scared for her life” and suffered several bruises, dog bites and sexual assaults on numerous occasions.

According to Weiss’ attorney, Justin Underwood, Weiss’ bond was originally set at $500,000. Underwood said a magistrate judge reduced the bond to a personal recognizance bond after viewing a video on Weiss’ phone that Underwood says proves Weiss did not kidnap the victim.

In the video, you see a female passenger smiling. You hear what Underwood says is Weiss’ voice ask, “Do you want to go with me?” The female passenger answers, “Yes.” The voice behind the camera then says, “You’re going because you want to go, I’m not making you, right?” The female passenger answers, “No.”

Underwood said when Weiss was arrested, he told the Texas Rangers to look at his phone to view the video.

“I don’t know that they ever looked at it,” Underwood said.

Underwood said he asked the judge to get the phone back from the Texas Rangers, who were holding it as evidence.

“We took it back to the court and said we have evidence that says basically, you can see you be the judge of it, that does not correspond with what was told by this young lady to DPS,” Underwood said.

Underwood says after the judge viewed the video, he allowed Weiss to be released. However, the District Attorney’s Office says the case is still pending.

Underwood said in the video, it appears the female passenger is looking at her phone. He says that proves the passenger had access to her phone the entire trip from Houston to El Paso and could’ve called for help at anytime. Underwood said the female passenger is a 17-year old run away. He said the age of consent in Texas is 17.

“She had access to her phone the entire way across the state and never called for help or said anything was wrong until the money ran out in Van Horn Texas,” Underwood said.

The Center Against Sexual and Family Violence’s Executive Director Stephanie Karr did not comment on this particular case. However, she spoke to ABC-7 generally about what sexual assault victims often go through.

“Consent needs to be ongoing,” Karr said. “It’s not a one time, ‘I consent to this.’ There are multiple steps where consent continues to need to be provided.”

If you are a victim of sexual assault, you can call the center’s 24-hour crisis hotline at 915-593-7300.

The District Attorney’s Office said it is unable to comment on pending cases. A spokeswoman with the Texas Department of Public Safety told ABC-7 the case is part of an “on-going investigation and no other information is available.”