A 54-year-old Texas man was sentenced to life in prison after a Tarrant County jury found him guilty Monday of killing his wife and stepson more than three years ago, according to reports.
Rickey Wayne Edwards was charged with capital murder in the May 2020 double homicide. Life in prison without parole is the automatic sentence for such a charge.
The day of the shooting, Edwards and his wife, 46-year-old Portia Williams-Edwards, were moving into their new home on Monet Lane in Grand Prairie.
At one point during the day she called her father saying Edwards “was acting crazy,” adding that he hit her, pulled a gun on her and threatened her, according to a Tarrant County District Attorney news release.
Williams-Edwards also called one of her sons, Kameion Kitchen, and told him the same things.
Kitchen went to the couple’s house and was involved in a confrontation with Edwards before Edwards used a Glock pistol to shoot his stepson 10 times and his wife twice in the head.
Edwards called 911 about an hour later and officers arrived to find both victims dead. He was immediately arrested.
Edwards represented himself at the trial that began Oct. 3, arguing that he acted in self-defense. The jury took roughly 14 minutes to deliberate.
“This was not self-defense as the defendant claims,” one of the prosecutors told the jury. “The evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt that he executed Kameion and Portia.”
Tell us your thoughts...