NACOGDOCHES, Texas–A man has been given life in prison here for robbing a branch of Doches Credit Union in May of 2015.
After 30 minutes of deliberation, a jury here handed down the sentence for Byron Jerome Hawkins, who had been found guilty earlier in the day of committing the crime.
Court records indicated that shortly after the robbery Hawkins had spent as much as $10,000 at local businesses, which a prosecutor called “brazen.” Prosecutors said Hawkins used a gun in the robbery, and that employees were left crying and holding each other, while “the defendant is at JC Penney asking for the most expensive thing."
Hawkins has previous arrests and convictions on his record for crimes including evading arrest, aggravated assault, and shooting someone. He had previously served prison time for those crimes, and has also been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2006 in a separate incident, Hawkins was found incompetent to stand trial.