Lubbock man sentenced to 45 years in prison for 2019 fatal home-invasion robbery
A 26-year-old man was sentenced to 45 years in prison for admitting to his role in a fatal home-invasion robbery in 2019.
Christopher Thomas pleaded guilty Friday morning to a count of murder in the 137th District Court.
He was initially indicted on a count of capital murder, but as part of his plea, the Lubbock District Attorney's Office opted to accept a guilty plea on the lesser included offense of murder.
More: Jury returns guilty verdict in deadly home invasion robbery
Thomas admitted to his role in the April 10, 2019, home-invasion robbery that killed 20-year-old Tyshaun Bates in his apartment in the 4600 block of 50th Street.
Thomas, who has been held at the Lubbock County Detention Center since his April 26, 2019 arrest, was initially charged with murder in 2019. However, prosecutors in May presented the capital murder case alleging Thomas killed Bates in the course of robbing him.
During Friday's plea, Thomas told the court that other than the possibility of going to trial for capital murder, he was not threatened into accepting the plea deal with prosecutors.
Capital murder carries a punishment of life in prison without parole or the death penalty. Murder carries a punishment of five years to life in prison with parole.
Prosecutor Barron Slack offered a limited comment in light of the cases still pending against Thomas' co-defendants.
He said the possibility that Thomas faced a capital murder conviction at trial played a role in a successful plea negotiation.
"We consider today's negotiation to be successful," he said. "We consider the result to be positive. The family's happy with it."
Thomas' attorney, Matthew Chandler, said the plea deal was also a good resolution for his client.
Thomas is one of five people charged in the fatal robbery. Daytron Hood is charged with murder while James Dora, Lisa Morales and Quawnard Williams, are each charged with aggravated robbery.
A Lubbock jury convicted Dora after an August 2021 trial in the 137th District Court and sentenced him to 45 years in prison.
During that trial, jurors heard from Morales, Bates' ex-girlfriend, who laid out the plan to rob him.
She said she was supposed to go to Bates' apartment to buy marijuana then Thomas and Hood would barge into the residence moments later and rob Bates at gunpoint of his drugs and guns.
More witness testimony revealed that Dora was the third masked robber who entered Bates' apartment moments after the two masked men barged into the residence and shot Bates.
The cases against Thomas, Morales, Hood and Williams remain pending.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Christopher Thomas sentenced for role in Lubbock home-invasion robbery
