As death penalty decision looms, Tarrant trial opens in strangulation of girlfriend, child
Inside the two-story apartment building constructed of tan and black bricks and stucco exterior walls, O’Tishae Womack’s body was on her kitchen floor.
A white Albertsons grocery bag covered her head. A black and white floral comforter was on top of her legs.
Upstairs on a bed in the east Fort Worth apartment lay her daughter, Ka’Mayria, covered by a blanket. The 10-year-old wore shorts and a T-shirt. She looked as though she was asleep.
But Ka’Mayria, too, was gone. The little girl’s body was cold.
Both had been strangled with the hands of a man who applied pressure to their necks until they stopped breathing, according to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office account.
Prosecutors allege that their killer was Paige Terrell Lawyer, Womack’s 38-year-old boyfriend. Lawyer had a history of arrests on domestic violence assault in which Womack was also the victim before the killings on April 6, 2018, in the 200 block of Shady Lane Drive.
Putting his hands around Womack’s neck was his modus operandi, his standard method for injuring his girlfriend, according to the district attorney’s office.
Lawyer was motivated in part by his fear Womack would participate in his prosecution on the previous domestic violence assault cases, the state alleges.
“So he killed her,” prosecutor Dale Smith told the jury in his opening statement in the capital murder trial that began on Monday in Criminal District Court No. 1 in Tarrant County.
The District Attorney’s Office is seeking the death penalty. Jurors are first hearing evidence and argument to consider whether Lawyer is guilty or not guilty before moving, if the panel convicts him, to a phase to determine punishment.
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Lawyer was indicted in February 2020, and the decision to seek the death penalty in the case was made when District Attorney Phil Sorrells’ predecessor, Sharen Wilson, held the office.
The last time a Tarrant County jury sent a defendant to Death Row was in November 2019 when it convicted Hector Acosta of capital murder. The Mexican drug cartel hit man was found guilty of killing two people in Arlington in 2017, beheading one of the victims, and mutilating their bodies with a machete and a two-by-four.
Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Loyd Whelchel is, with Smith, prosecuting Lawyer.
The jury will hear evidence showing the defendant’s bloody fingerprint was found on a mop near O’Tishae Womack’s body and his DNA was found under her fingernails, Smith told the jury.
Defense attorney Steve Gordon forecast that the evidence would be insufficient to convict Lawyer of capital murder.
He encouraged the jury to pay close attention and dissect the evidence.
With Gordon, defense attorneys Brian Poe and William Biggs were appointed to represent Lawyer.
Judge Elizabeth Beach is presiding at the trial. The jury resumed hearing the state’s case at 8:30 a.m. today.
