After guilty verdict in Fort Worth capital murder, defendant shouts to jury in outburst
Just after the jury in his capital murder trial filed on Thursday afternoon into a Tarrant County courtroom to begin to hear evidence to determine whether to condemn him to die by lethal injection, Paige Terrell Lawyer interrupted and said he wanted to put a matter on the record.
His exasperation was clear. His rapid-fire words were not.
Judge Elizabeth Beach attempted to halt the eruption from the defense table.
“Sir. Sir,” the judge said. The angry defendant was undeterred.
When it became clear that Lawyer would not stop speaking, the jury that less than an hour earlier had found him guilty in the 2018 strangulation deaths of his girlfriend and her 10-year-old daughter in east Fort Worth, was ushered out. Lawyer yelled across the room to the panel as he walked to a holding area adjacent to the courtroom.
Some of what Lawyer said was difficult to understand. The defendant appeared in part to reference his decision earlier in the day not to testify.
“You all lying. You sat there and lied, man,” Lawyer yelled.
It was not clear who Lawyer was accusing of lying.
Judge Beach recessed the trial until Friday morning.
Lawyer was convicted in Criminal District Court No. 1 in Tarrant County in the deaths of O’Tishae Womack and her daughter, Ka’Myria, on April 6, 2018.
Both were strangled when pressure was applied to their necks until they stopped breathing, according to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office account.
Today's top stories:
→ Dad of toddler who died of fentanyl poisoning waited hours to call 911: warrant
→ OU student from North Texas killed in car crash, remembered as ‘cherished friend’
→ DNA analysis IDs remains found almost 40 years ago as missing North Texas woman
🚨Get free alerts when news breaks.
A forensic pathologist could not determine whether an object or a body part, such as a hand, caused the pressure, although in previous domestic violence allegations, O’Tishae Womack told police officers that Lawyer, her 38-year-old boyfriend, had wrapped his hands around her neck.
This is a developing story. For the latest updates, sign up for breaking news alerts.
