Charles Broyles gets 20 years in prison after jury finds him guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Charles Broyles walks into the courtroom Thursday, moments prior to a jury finding him guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Photo/Sara Vanden Berge

By SARA VANDEN BERGE

Charles Broyles is heading to prison.

An Erath County jury on Friday sentenced the “vigilante shooter” to 20 years in prison following Thursday’s guilty verdict.

I wasn’t in the courtroom on Friday, but my friend and fellow journalist Wyndi Veigel-Gaudette with the Dublin Citizen was and sent me this:

“Court was delayed for almost an hour prior to sentencing on Friday as attorneys and Judge (Jason) Cashon conferred on a letter from Defendant Charles Broyles being read to the jury before sentencing deliberations began.

“Under oath and after being discouraged by defense attorneys Ryan Taylor and Brady Pendleton, a translator on behalf of Broyles read a letter he wrote.

“The letter urged District Attorney Alan Nash to charge laws to strengthen sentencing against child molesters to death or life without parole, work to establish a Special Victims Unit in this county and urged Jason Cashon to sentence him to 20 years without parole.

“Nash presented a single piece of evidence for the jury: a conviction document where Broyles was found guilty of a theft of a firearm in Lampasas County in 2014.

"He received deferred adjudication, essentially keeping the felony charge off his record.

“In closing remarks, Nash urged the jury to punish Broyles to the maximum amount in the range of 2 to 20 years. He also told the jury not to assess a fine since the offense was not a financial crime.

“‘I am worried about what this guy is capable of,’ he said. ‘This defendant has shown to be able to get a firearm through whatever means. How do we protect the public in the future?’”

Following Friday's sentencing, Nash issued the following statement:

"The jury did what our system requires----it reached a verdict based on the evidence and followed the law," he said.

"It may be tempting for those who did not hear and see the evidence to comment, criticize or make reactionary pronouncements about vigilante justice. 

"But the swift and thorough work of law enforcement and this jury verdict show that we will not abide individuals circumventing due process by using violence to impose personal justice."

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Story updated at 4:45 p.m., Thursday, June 5…

It took an Erath County jury of five women and seven men less than an hour on Thursday to find Charles Broyles guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Broyles, standing next to his attorneys Ryan Taylor and Brady Pendleton, showed no emotion as the verdict was read.

Jurors will begin deliberating punishment Friday morning.

He faces two to 20 years in prison.

***

Story updated at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, June 5…

An Erath County jury has begun deliberations in the trial of Charles Broyles, accused of targeting registered sex offenders living in Stephenville.

Broyles has been charged with shooting Randell Cowan in the face on the night of Dec. 3, 2023.

In closing remarks, Erath County District Attorney Alan Nash told jurors not to let the victim’s past crimes influence their decision.

“We do not get to decide, as individuals, to bypass the rule of law,” Nash said.

He urged jurors not to consider the victim’s past criminal record and instead focus on whether the evidence showed that Broyles assaulted Cowan.

In his closing statements, defense attorney Ryan Taylor claimed police had the wrong man and called into question the integrity of the investigation, saying that the evidence wasn’t properly secured at the crime scene and police failed to test gunshot residue on Broyles.

Stay tuned for the jury’s verdict…

***

From earlier reports, story posted at 10:45 a.m. Thursday, June 5…

Testimony in the trial of Charles Broyles, accused of targeting registered sex offenders living in Erath County, began Thursday with the man he allegedly shot.

Randell Cowan, wearing a pair of Wrangler jeans and short-sleeve button down shirt, took the stand in a hushed courtroom.

The registered sex offender told jurors that on the night of Dec. 3, 2023, he was in the living room around 10 p.m. when someone started knocking on the door of his home in the Starlight Mobile Home Park in Stephenville.

“I asked who it was and there was no answer,” Cowan said. “I was hesitant to answer the door and I looked out the window,” but saw no one.

He said the knocking continued and he went to the kitchen to get a “steak knife.”

He told jurors that he carried the knife in his right hand as he made his way to the front door.

“As it was opening, I was jolted forward to the porch and that’s when they stepped out and shoved a phone in my face,” he said.

The phone, Cowan said, had a picture of him from the sex offender registry.

He said he heard the assailant say, “Is this you?”

“I nodded and that’s when there was a loud ringing in my ears and I fell back into the house,” Cowan said.

“I noticed there was blood everywhere. I could hear my mother screaming as I was trying to figure out where all the blood was coming from.”

He said he could hear his mother talking to someone, then heard sirens in the distance.

“She was screaming that the paramedics were coming to help me,” he said.

Cowan said he had never met Broyles and has no connection to him.

Cowan said he spent 37 days in the hospital and underwent five surgeries. He said he continues to experience numbness, dizziness and trouble eating.

When District Attorney Alan Nash asked Cowan about his registered sex offender status, he said he was convicted in 2007 of sexually assaulting two children in Arkansas in 1996. 

Under cross examination, Broyles’ attorney Ryan Taylor pointed out that the DPS database states that Cowan’s victims were five and eight years old.

Cowan accepted a plea deal that sent him to an Arkansas state penitentiary for 15 years and was released on parole after serving 10.

Click here to read Tuesday's testimony and here for Wednesday's.