Lubbock woman sentenced to 10 years for 2017 deadly stabbing
The family of a 38-year-old man stabbed to death five years ago said after years of waiting, the 10-year sentence handed to the woman who killed him was an injustice.
LaSherria Hastings on Monday stood before District Judge William Eichman in the 364th District Court and pleaded guilty to a count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury to a family member.
Prosecutors believe Hastings intentionally, knowingly or recklessly caused serious bodily injury to 38-year-old Randale Stewart, using a knife. Hastings was legally married to Stewart at the time but they had separated.
She was initially indicted on a murder charge in connection with Stewart's death. The new charge is also a first-degree felony, which means Hastings still faced five years to life in prison if she is convicted. She was also eligible for probation.
Hastings' charge stems from an investigation after Lubbock police responded to a 5:50 a.m. Aug. 20, 2017 civil disturbance call to the to 5800 block of Avenue G.
Responding officers found Stewart suffering a stab wound in the upper left portion of his chest. He was taken by ambulance to University Medical Center where he died.
Stewart's girlfriend, told police she, Stewart and two other people had returned home for the night. She said Stewart couldn't find his phone and believed it may have been in his car and asked her to call it while he searched for it.
Investigators believed Hastings confronted Stewart when he went to his car and stabbed him.
Meanwhile, Stewart's girlfriend told investigators she grew concerned when Stewart didn't answer his phone, saying she could hear men arguing outside. She said she went outside and saw people gathering near the vehicle and Hastings running away.
She said Stewart was clutching his chest with his right hand and fell to the ground.
She said she screamed for help and Stewart's cousin came and stanched his wound with a gray t-shirt, the report states.
Investigators spoke with Hastings later that day and arrested her, according to police officials.
Records show Hastings was held at the Lubbock County Detention Center for more than three years until she was was in jail until Dec. 3, 2020, when she was released on bond. She would have to serve half of her sentence before she was eligible for release on parole.
Prosecutor Courtney Boyd said Hastings told investigators that she acted in self-defense. However, Hastings made statements during her interview with police that Boyd said showed she was deceitful.
"She did not tell the truth to police at first," Boyd said. "Then she told a version of the truth, when she changed her story and went back to not telling the truth. Nobody's going to ever know how it actually happened. They were the only two witnesses out there."
However, the investigation would be unable to show that Hastings intended to kill Stewart that night, said Laurie Key, Hastings' defense attorney.
Boyd said there was evidence that Hastings was a victim of domestic violence from a previous relationship and there was evidence that Stewart was aggressive when he was intoxicated.
"And the evidence would have shown that he was pretty highly intoxicated at the time of his death," she said.
Key said had the case gone to trial, she believed jurors would see the her client acted in self defense that night.
"What the record does reflect is that drugs and alcohol are not a good mix, particularly if you're fighting with a spouse or anyone else," she said. "And there was a history here when drugs and alcohol were involved, he wasn't the same person that he was that that his family knew. And that is ultimately what led to the circumstances of the night that he died."
Those factors and the unpredictability of a jury trial resulted in the amended charge, which included a reckless culpable mental state, and the 10-year plea offer.
"(Hastings) decided that that was in her best interest to take that plea offer," Key said.
During her victim impact statement, Stewart's sister, Ebony, told Hastings that her actions devastated her family.
She said her mother died from lung cancer and a broken heart.
"I can't understand how you ... you didn't tell the truth," she said. "You did not tell the truth at all. You tried to make (Stewart) out to be a bad person and you know that's not right. I know that he did not beat you. I know it."
Stewart's aunt, Barbara Thompson, told Hastings that she believed her nephew was killed out of jealousy.
"Everything that's being portrayed today has all been a lie," she said. "His life was taken for no reason at all. There's a difference between killing and murdering, and you murdered him."
She said her sister, Stewart's mother, hoped to still be alive to see Hastings be punished. She said her sister's cancer was in remission but the pain of losing her son was too great.
She told Hastings that her actions robbed her nephew's children of their father.
"I hope that you life with this for the rest of your life," she said. "Until you confess what exactly happened that night, you will have no peace."
Stewart's cousin, told Hastings that her 10-year sentence was an injustice.
"No justice was served," she said. "Not for my Ray-Ray. For you but not for Ray-Ray."
She told Hastings that Stewart was a good person who never hurt anybody.
"He never touched you," she said.
She said a 10-year sentence would only serve to release a "beast back out into the street."
She told Hastings she was now looking toward a higher power for justice.
"God's got the last say-so," she said.
Boyd said she understands the Stewart family's reaction.
"But based on what the evidence was going to show, that is where we felt it was a good resolution, not saying for everybody, there are just some things I hate and this is one of those cases that what I feel like," she said.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Woman accused in 2017 deadly stabbing sentenced
