A Texas man has been convicted of capital murder after he FaceTimed his girlfriend and her father while he strangled their 2-year-old daughter.
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The Houston Chronicle reported that the man, Deontray Flanagan, was convicted of the March 2023 murder of his toddler daughter, Zevaya Flanagan, whom he strangled to death as her mother, Kairsten Watson, screamed and begged him to stop through a video call.
“Please stop–that is our daughter,” she screamed, per the video, which was presented during the trial.
Just before jurors began to deliberate on the sentencing, Flanagan revealed why he strangled the child. He admitted he took a punishment he directed towards his ex for moving on too far.
According to the testimony, the former couple had been disputing over new relationships and child custody when Flanagan took to the little girl from daycare without permission.
He then took the toddler to Walmart, where Watson worked, and grabbed the mother’s phone.
Flanagan left the store with the 2-year-old and led a nearly hour-long police chase after Watson alerted Harris County law enforcement.
During the 30-mile car chase, Flanagan was seen veering into wrong-way traffic and even hit other vehicles. Throughout the ordeal, Flanagan was demanding that Watson give him her phone’s password. She continuously refused to do so.
During the video call, Watson told Flanagan she would do anything he wanted. However, she knew that he was killing their daughter at the moment. She stated she felt trapped and unable to save the little girl, despite her efforts.
“There was nothing I could do about it,” Watson said in court.
A medical examiner official revealed in court that the 2-year-old died of blunt trauma to the head and neck compressions.
The automatic sentencing was life imprisonment without parole.
The Father Had Outbursts Both inside and Outside the Courtroom During the Trial
The Houston Chronicle further reported that on Friday, Jan. 10, Flanagan had a string of outbursts inside and outside a spare courtroom.
It was noted that the outbursts started when Watson’s new boyfriend was seen making his way into the courtroom. The court proceedings came to a halt when Flanagan addressed the man as the jury was listening to testimony from a detective. Amid a break, Flanagan lunged at a TV news photographer, nearly knocking the camera to the ground.
Bailiffs quickly ushed him through a narrow hallway, and deputies swarmed him, tackling him to the ground.
Judge Denise Collins, who was presiding over the trial, told Flanagan’s legal team that his actions were “more important than anything anything else.”
“Your client is on trial for his life,” she stated. The judge then warned Flanagan to behave or else.
“I’m going to keep everything under control,” Flanagan promised.
Watson’s father, Curtis Watson, called Flanagan’s outbursts childish and unsurprising.
“It was just a desperate move for acceptance, which children do and not adults,” he stated.