By Amy Wren
Assistant District Attorney in Nacogdoches County
Dwight Shears slept at his girlfriend’s house the night before he broke into her house. He was not found at the scene. He left no visible injury. He caused almost no damage to the house. And yet, Shears was found guilty of burglary and aggravated assault during an attack on his longtime partner, and a jury sentenced him to 25 years in the pen. You read that right.
When I received this case in April 2023 for a trial setting later that summer, I had those facts and just a little bit more. I had a statement from the victim (we’ll call her Sabrina) that she saw Shears outside her home, that she went inside and locked the door, and then while she was relaxing in the bathtub, she opened her eyes to see him sitting on the toilet. He was angry, and when she got out of the tub, he swung a baseball bat at her. (He missed.) I also had a statement from the parties’ 15-year-old son that he intervened and grabbed the bat when his father prepared to swing again.
I could discern from the report that the victim and the defendant were family members, but that was it. There was no kicked-in door, no open windows, no damaged locks, no holes in the wall, not a dent, not a single spot of paint chipped—and no injuries. These offenses occurred on January 10, 2019, so I also had a significant lapse in time, and there was no body-cam video due to an issue with the law enforcement agency’s storage system: All body-cam videos from prior to April 2020 were lost. To top it off, the defendant was uninterested in any plea agreement other than time served.
Start digging
It would have been easy to offer time served and move on to the next case, because let’s be honest, this one wasn’t looking so good and there were plenty of others on the trial docket that had better facts. But this one nagged at me. I had seen the defendant in court, and he was very vocal about being eager to confront the witnesses against him. I’m not one to back down from that kind of challenge, and I learned a long time ago, especially where relationships are concerned, that if you dig deeper, it’s likely you’ll find additional incidents and sometimes even other victims. So that’s what I did. I dug and dug all the way back to 2015.
I found multiple reported incidents concerning the same victim and defendant. I reviewed all of them and discovered that the victim, in all cases, either did not want to pursue charges from the start or decided later that she did not wish to pursue charges. In all but one case, the State did not file charges. The one that was pursued occurred in 2016; that’s when Shears threatened Sabrina with a knife and later pleaded guilty to terroristic threat. I knew in my gut that there was more, and the reason there was more is because the victim kept going back to her abuser. My typical jurors were not going to like that.
I needed to keep digging, but I had run out of paper to dig through. So, armed with some knowledge of the relationship, I decided it was time to contact the victim. Shears was indicted in May 2019 and there had been little contact with her. I knew the defendant and the victim had been back together after indictment because law enforcement had responded to incidents between them up to September 2022. The defendant was arrested in October 2022 and had not been able to bond out of jail. I knew where he was, but I didn’t know where she was—or whether she would want to talk to me.
The victim
I met the victim, Sabrina, in May 2023. She was quiet but well put-together. She informed me that she was working the nightshift at a local hospital as a certified nurse’s aide and that she lived with her youngest son in town. When I told Sabrina that the case was set for trial, her face took on an expression of hesitation and fear. I watched her start to shut down and attempt to shrink into her chair. Before she could completely close off, I jumped in and told her that all I needed to know was the truth and I would never ask any more of her than that. She nodded and I knew she was still with me. I asked her to start from the beginning.
Sabrina started to talk about the night of January 10, 2019, about the burglary and aggravated assault. I stopped her and said I meant the real beginning, from the time Shears entered her life until the last time she saw or spoke to him. Sabrina was obviously confused and asked something to the effect of, “Why does it matter? He’s going to trial for burglary.” I told her that it was all important because I had a feeling that the burglary was just the last thing (the most recent thing), which could be explained only by knowing everything. In my mind I saw their relationship as the cycle of violence, and I knew that the last thing is always related to the first thing.
And so Sabrina started at the beginning. She sat in my office with me and a victim’s assistance coordinator, Holly George, for more than two hours. In that time, she relayed the heartbreaking account of a young girl who grew up in the projects with a single mother, an absent father, and no siblings or other close family. She met Shears when she was 15 years old. He was 24. While all the other girls wanted to get to know him, he gave his attention to Sabrina. She felt special, and he exploited that. The defendant impregnated her almost immediately, and she gave birth to a baby girl at 16 years old.[1] One month after the little girl was born, Sabrina’s mother, her only support system, passed away. Sabrina went to live with her father, whom she did not know. He often kicked her out of the house, leaving Shears as the only steady presence in her life, the one who always came to the rescue.
At 18 years old Sabrina was able to get government housing. The defendant moved in with her, but he told her she needed him and she believed it. In her words, the defendant “raised her.” He taught her to cook, clean, wash, etc. He told her these were the things women are supposed to do. When she got it wrong, he would tell her to lie across the bed on her stomach and he would whip her with a belt. She described feeling insignificant and small, like a child.
At 19 years old, Sabrina was pregnant again. There was a gathering outside of the apartment complex and Shears came inside raging, accusing her of messing around on him. He strangled Sabrina until she lost consciousness and urinated on herself. This was the incident that Sabrina identified as the first time he abused her, even though he had been verbally and physically abusive previously. Even as she sat in my office, it was difficult for her to describe past incidents because to her, unless it rose to the level of being strangled to unconsciousness, it wasn’t really that bad. Finally, I had to stop asking her about “assaults” and “abuse” and instead ask about every possible way that abuse could be perpetrated for it to register what I was asking about. With this prompting, Sabrina went on to describe the “lesser abuse” that she endured on a frequent basis: slapping, kicking, stomping, strangulation that wasn’t as bad as the first one, being spit on, being threatened, and being demeaned. She described a time Shears spat in her face and then told her that he loved her, that it was just him and her against the world. She told me about the 2016 incident where Shears pled guilty to terroristic threat; it stemmed from her receiving a government benefit card and buying groceries. Shears came at her with a butcher knife.
This was the life she had lived for 25 years.
She went back to him
Sabrina estimated that she tried to leave the relationship more than 10 times, but she always went back. She described believing wholeheartedly that she could not make it without Shears. She believed that she was stupid and that no one would want her. Sometimes he made her feel bad by saying he was cold or hungry. When she would resist the name-calling and the attempts at making her feel bad, he would do something to scare her. On one occasion she had moved out of the bedroom into the living room and was sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Shears came out and told her that she was going to “give him some.” Sabrina told him no, but he persisted. She laid there not making a sound because she didn’t want her child to come out of his room and see her like that. The defendant finished, then got up, and left. He let her know who was in control, and she felt powerless to stop him.
Sabrina got brave again after that and kicked Shears out of the house. He wanted to come back, but she stood her ground until one night she was asleep in her room and could feel that there was someone with her. She rolled over and opened her eyes and was met with Shears pointing a gun in her face saying, “You could be dead right now.” She let him come back, because at least if she knew where he was, she could see what was coming.
She even went back after he swung the baseball bat at her head in January 2019. The following month he met her in the driveway with a screwdriver and threatened to stab her in the heart. After that, she moved to San Antonio to get away from him. Things didn’t go well. She couldn’t make it, and she believed he was right, that she needed him. She came back to Nacogdoches and asked Shears to take her and their son back.
But then she came back to us
In September 2022, Sabrina contacted the county attorney’s office and wanted a protective order (PO). Sabrina had left again, and Shears was outraged. She brought with her many text messages from several days in September that contained manipulation and outright threats of violence. But even after all she’d been through, she hesitated and actually told the victim’s assistance coordinator that she felt bad seeking a protective order.
She was granted a temporary ex parte PO, and two hours after the defendant was served with it, he violated it. He told her that if he was going to jail he was “taking bodies” with him and that he was going to sit at her house and at her job and torment her. A two-year protective order was issued when the defendant did not show up to contest it. The defendant’s bond was revoked based on the text messages, and he was arrested in October 2022. By the time I was meeting with Sabrina, she had been physically free from him for about seven months, but it was clear that she was struggling with letting herself be mentally and emotionally free from him, and it made sense. Not only was she caught in the power and control wheel and cycle of violence, but he had also groomed her as a child. He was all that she knew.
How many ways can I lose this case?
I knew after reviewing the case that there were many paths to a not-guilty verdict. I met with Sabrina’s son, the one who grabbed the bat, in May 2023. It was very clear that he was not going to be the third-party witness we all hope for. Not because he had turned on his mom, had felony convictions, or had started using drugs—no. Rather, it was because he was a clear example of what a child who grows up in a household of violence can turn out like. He wasn’t aggressive at all. In fact, he may be the most passive and submissive person I have met with in 10 years. We talked about the case, and it was apparent he was very uncomfortable; he would be easily led down any path either attorney wanted to because he just could not handle conflict. If he was going to add anything positive toward the case, it was going to be minimal.
So, there I was, with one hesitant witness who had only known going back to the defendant for 25 years, with no injuries and no damage to the house.
But there’s a way to win, right?
One thing I knew after meeting Sabrina was that I believed her, but I believed her because I knew what I was looking for after many hours of training and many hours spent with victims of family violence. Even then, I am human, and I still find myself frustrated with victims. So, my challenge was to figure out how I could get the jury to see what I saw and believe Sabrina without the many hours of training and the benefit of having met with many victims. I needed them to feel outraged for her and not frustrated with her, or at least have a willingness to protect her in spite of their frustration.
I had already looked at all the incidents involving Sabrina and the defendant, so I went back and looked at all calls to the address where Sabrina was living in 2019, just to see what might turn up. I found an incident that happened on the morning of January 10, 2019, approximately 12 hours prior to the burglary and aggravated assault. It involved the defendant and a man named Leodis. Shears had been in a verbal altercation with Leodis because Shears believed that Sabrina was in a relationship with this other man. I also learned that the defendant had a screwdriver in his waistband when officers contacted him, that he referred to Sabrina as his ex, and that the defendant admitted to telling Leodis that if Leodis ever came back to the residence, the defendant would “air him out.” This information was helpful because that night, Sabrina told officers that when she noticed the defendant sitting next to her while she was in the bathtub, Shears was berating her about her supposed relationship with Leodis. He was angry, and she knew she had to get out of the tub because she was in a vulnerable position. Those two incidents happened on the same day and were very clearly related. It was also helpful because the officer who responded on the night of January 10, 2019, noted that there was torn weather stripping on the front door (which Sabrina had locked) and marks on the latch consistent with a flat tool forcing the latch back, e.g., a knife or screwdriver. That was good evidence, right? Sort of.
It’s a good time to mention that at this time my indictment contained one count: burglary of a habitation with the commission of an aggravated assault. While the incident on the morning of January 10, 2019, gave me motive and corroboration, it also gave me a statement from Sabrina that she let the defendant spend the night at her home the night before. That statement, coupled with Sabrina’s history of going back to Shears and allowing him to return home for many, many years, created a problem for my burglary. I planned to re-indict, but I was hoping to keep a felony one burglary. I hit Westlaw to see if there was any caselaw to support an indictment with both burglary with intent to commit aggravated assault and aggravated assault. Turns out, there is.[2] The statute of limitations for aggravated assault was two years at the time; however, because the case was indicted within two years, the statute of limitations was tolled.[3] I took the case back to the grand jury and obtained a new indictment charging burglary and aggravated assault.
With my charging figured out, I moved on to witnesses. The investigating officer had retired from the law enforcement agency, and I had never seen him testify. He confirmed that there were no injuries to Sabrina, there was no damage to the hallway where the bat was swung, and there was no damage to the windows, screens, or doors other than some torn weather stripping on the front door. He was able to say that the tears on the weather stripping appeared fresh due to the lack of dirt on the exposed area and that the latch on the door had markings consistent with a flat object sliding past it. That, combined with testimony from the responding officer during the morning hours of January 10, 2019, that the defendant had a screwdriver and that the defendant stated he always carried one, gave me the best shot I had at proving burglary.
My review of prior incidents turned up many responding officers, but only one who witnessed Shears’s behavior toward Sabrina. While the officer didn’t see the defendant threaten her with a knife, he did observe the defendant exhibit aggression toward her and aggression toward the officer. I also had one officer who arrested the defendant for criminal trespass at Sabrina’s address two and a half months before the burglary. This testimony would bolster Sabrina’s testimony not only about the night of January 10, but also about the entirety of her relationship with Shears. I made sure that I outlined my arguments for why Sabrina’s testimony about the entirety of the relationship—more specifically the bad acts that occurred—should be admitted pursuant to Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 38.371 and, if need be, Texas Rules of Evidence 404(b). I did the same for the officers’ testimony. I did not want to have to stop mid-trial to research whether the testimony could be admitted or why.
I then moved on to thinking about how I could educate the jury enough to get them to want to step in and protect Sabrina, even if they were frustrated by her repeated returning to the defendant over the course of 25 years. I knew her going back to Shears was going to seem counterintuitive to most people and would therefore give some jurors a reason to return a not guilty verdict. I sought advice and guidance from local mental health professionals and was directed to a licensed professional counselor (LPC) in the community, Shelby Brown, who previously worked at the Family Crisis Center.[4] Although she had never testified in court, she was confident in her experience and her education. We spoke multiple times about what was needed from her, what visual aids she wanted to use, what hypotheticals she may be asked, and courtroom testimony in general.
If the defendant was convicted, I also wanted someone to build on the work of my LPC in explaining how dangerous Shears was, especially with regard to Sabrina. I knew that my local forensic nurse, Kim Riddle, would be just the person. She is informed about strangulation and how dangerous it is, and she puts in a significant amount of time educating herself about strangulation in general, as well as about strangulation in relationships that involve family violence.
Putting all the pieces together
Trial time finally came. Jury selection occurred on April 15. I knew I needed a different kind of jury from what I would pick for a murder or sexual assault of a child. Our community has many people who are very “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” types, and they generally wield a hammer when it comes to punishment. I knew in this case those same folks, while good for many of our trials, weren’t likely to be as open to a mental health professional and may look unfavorably upon a victim who continued to go back to her abuser. The jurors I needed would likely be softer in punishment than we are used to in Nacogdoches County; however, I needed a guilty verdict before I could get to punishment. I had a plan going into voir dire and I executed it, focusing on my issues regarding the burglary, lack of injuries, and the dynamics involved in family violence. A jury was seated and we began evidence the following day.
I am a firm believer that you shouldn’t just call witnesses because they appear in your offense report. I spend a lot of my trial prep time determining not only who the potential witnesses are, but also what they bring to my case, whether it be positive or negative. Up until the morning of trial I was arranging and rearranging my witness order and visualizing my trial with and without certain witnesses. I decided that Sabrina’s son was either not going to add much or was going to hurt me because he was easily led wherever the person asking questions wanted to go. Although he saw Shears swing the bat and had actually stopped the defendant from swinging again, he wasn’t going to say so unless I could lead him there, and I didn’t have any video of his previous statements that could be played. I decided not to call him.
I also had to decide where my expert on family violence, Shelby Brown, was going to go. Would she go first and set the jury up for what they were about to hear from my victim, or would she go last and explain that everything Sabrina said made sense? I had prepared her for both.
The victim’s assistance coordinator in my office, Tammy Sanders, performs many duties outside of victim services and one of those is listening to jail calls. She informed me that the defendant was talking to various family members about testifying in his trial. On the morning that evidence began, I saw many of those family members and knew they were likely to testify, so I decided to put Shelby last. She was going to explain why everything Sabrina said fit within the cycle of violence and the power and control wheel, and she was going to set up the jury to be ready for the defendant’s family members, who were likely going to testify to protect him.
I had the officer who responded to Sabrina’s address on the morning of January 10 testify first to provide context to what Sabrina would testify happened later that night and how the officer who responded believed the defendant entered the home. Sabrina testified for three hours about what happened that night and about the nature of her relationship with the defendant. She told the truth, even when it might’ve made her look bad. The officer who responded to the terroristic threat in 2016 and the officer who arrested the defendant for criminal trespass at Sabrina’s address in 2018 testified after her, followed by my expert.
The defense called the defendant’s sisters who came off well—until they were confronted with the “did you know” questions regarding his assaultive behavior. The defendant himself then decided to testify, and that could be another article all by itself. I knew he thought he was smarter than everyone else and that he planned to talk himself out of trouble. I asked him only questions that would contradict his earlier statements or confirm Sabrina’s statements. I didn’t argue with him, in other words. I learned a long time ago that arguing with a defendant rarely, if ever, turns out well for the State. In this case, if I let him know where I was headed, he was going to talk until he had someone convinced it wasn’t his fault or until he had everyone thoroughly confused; but one thing he wasn’t going to do was flat-out admit to any of his behavior—so why argue? I didn’t want the jury to take their eye off the ball, so I got what I needed and saved the rest for argument. For example, he stated Sabrina already had a child when he met her; however, he also testified that he knew her mother well before she passed. Both of those things could not be true because Sabrina’s mother passed one month after the birth of Sabrina’s first child, the one whom the defendant fathered but was trying to distance himself from. I also asked him about the 2016 terroristic threat and he said that was just a misunderstanding. During the defendant’s direct and cross-examination, he was showing many of the behaviors in the power and control wheel that my expert had already educated the jury about, and I was prepared to point that out during closing argument.
In the end, the jury found the defendant guilty of both burglary and aggravated assault. They also made a finding that a deadly weapon was used during the burglary. During punishment, several jail officers testified to the defendant’s behavior while in jail and Kim Riddle testified beautifully about strangulation and the danger that the defendant poses to not only Sabrina, but also law enforcement and the community. The jury returned a punishment verdict of 25 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
While I think he deserved more, I spoke to the jury afterward to understand their thought process. They absolutely believed Sabrina and gave the defendant one year for every year he tormented her during their relationship. I can’t argue with that logic. His only felony criminal history was a state jail dope charge from 20 years prior, so he had not done any significant time previously. This case had no injuries, and there was no damage to any part of the house other than the door’s weather stripping. You have to walk before you can run, and you have to get a guilty verdict to get to punishment. Stepping back, I can see that two and a half decades in prison is a long time—and it was a powerful message to Sabrina and the defendant that the jury believed her and they were willing to swing big (pun intended) on the defendant’s first serious offense.
Some takeaways
I hope after reading this article you take a few things with you. First, put in the work. It’s easy to look at a case that isn’t great on its face and just move on to the next one. I’m guilty of it too; however, cases involving family violence victims aren’t just words on paper. They are real people who have endured real violence and who endure real hardship in leaving those relationships. Not every case is going to get better, and we do have to let some of them go, but before you let one go, make sure you’ve put in the work first.
Second, we have to care. I have heard the question, “If she doesn’t care, why should I?” too many times to count. We should care because sometimes it’s the very thing that gives a victim hope. Sometimes all they need is to see that someone will stand with them. We should care because prosecutors are in a unique position to do something. If not us, then who?
Third, just do it. If you’re looking for a reason not to take a tough case to trial, you will surely find it—and you will find many people who agree with you. What if you changed the perspective and looked for a reason to at least try? In this case, the defendant came into Sabrina’s life when she was 15 years old. He made sure he was in control of her life and that she knew he could take it away if he wanted to. She needed to know that there was someone out there to stand with her so that she could take back power over her life. She is one of too many. She was worth taking a big swing, and so are the rest of them.
And with that, I leave you with this line from Dr. Seuss’s classic The Lorax: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
Endnotes
[1] The grand jury indicted the defendant for sexual assault of a child on June 2, 2023, and the case is still pending.
[2] Lang v. State, 183 S.W.3d 680 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006).
[3] Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art 12.05.
[4] Family Crisis Center of East Texas provides shelter, advocacy, and counseling to victims of family violence.