TEXARKANA, Texas -The recent arrests of two 17-year-olds for capital murder in Bowie County in connection with the home invasion death of a 31-year-old husband and father has led to some confusion about death penalty laws.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that defendants convicted of committing murder while under the age of 18 cannot be sentenced to death. While Texas is one of a few states which treats all 17-year-old criminal defendants as adults, it prohibits assessment of the death penalty or a sentence of life without parole for defendants found guilty of committing capital murder while under 18.
Daveon Woods and Cameron Ware allegedly shot and killed Craig Garner in his apartment Nov. 9 after kicking in the front door. Garner's wife shielded their 2 and 4-year-old children when shots rang out. Shell casings from bullets of two different calibers were recovered and Texarkana, Texas, police believe the two young defendants actually meant to attack someone else and simply picked the wrong apartment.
Both men were arrested and charged with capital murder. First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp said that while the alleged crimes are heinous and shock the conscience, Texas law does not allow the imposition of the death penalty or of a sentence of life without parole for defendants who kill when younger than 18.
In May 2012 the murder of a Redwater, Texas, woman, Amanda Doss, and her two children, Guinevere Doss, 12, and Texas Johnson, 8, horrified the Texarkana and surrounding communities. All three victims were stabbed to death before their bodies and home were set ablaze. Doss' parents, who'd answered a chilling call from their granddaughter, rushed to the scene and suffered serious burns trying to pull their loved ones from the inferno.
Almost more shocking than the murders was the knowledge that came months later in the form of a confession from a high school student who lived near the slain family and had once babysat the children. Rachel Pittman was 16 at the time of the murders. Her case was transferred from juvenile to adult court but she could not face the same punishment an adult would have given the same facts.
Pittman ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and received life sentences. She will be parole-eligible Aug. 12, 2041. Being eligible for parole does not mean parole will be granted.
At hearings last week, 202nd District Judge John Tidwell appointed lawyers for Woods and Ware and scheduled them to appear in mid-December for pretrial hearings.
Both are being held in the Bowie County jail with bail set at $1 million.