Daniels sentenced in first Wilbarger trial since Covid hiatus
A Vernon man was sentenced to 70 years in prison by a jury for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the first jury trial last week in the 46th Judicial District Court in over one year.
Beauford Deshawn Daniels, 41, was convicted of brutally assaulting a woman in the early morning hours of May 16, 2019. The woman, who has learning disabilities, had been in a sporadic dating relationship with Daniels for a few months at the time of the crime. The victim testified at trial that she had gone to sleep on her couch on the evening of May 15, 2019. She awoke just after midnight to find Daniels standing next to her and demanding that she wash his clothes. A brutal assault ensued wherein Daniels choked the victim, beat her with a shower rod, and punched her with his fists all over her body. The victim reportedly lost consciousness at least four times during the assault. At one point, the victim escaped out of her back door and was trying to make it to a neighbor’s house for assistance. The neighbor saw Daniels place the victim in a chokehold and drag the victim back into the house where he dropped her to the ground, picked her up by her feet, and dropped her onto the concrete head first.
After the crime, Daniels went to the neighbor’s house and told them that she might want to check on the victim because he believed that he killed her. He also told the neighbor to hide the shower rod and to “fix it” so that the police were not involved.
“This was a callous and brutal crime,” stated District Attorney Staley Heatly. “The victim in this case has been through hell. I’m just glad that the jury was able to provide her with some peace of mind with the long sentence.”
It took the jury less than ten minutes to convict Daniels after the close of testimony. During the punishment phase, Assistant District Attorney Jon Whitsitt offered evidence that Daniels had previously been convicted of aggravated robbery, assault causing great bodily injury, burglary of a habitation, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. Because of these prior convictions, the punishment range for Daniels was increased to a minimum of 25 years up to life in prison.