By Larry Briscoe
Correspondent
Former West Tawakoni City Councilwoman Laura Denise Bailey Beckett has pled guilty to one count of failure to stop at an accident causing serious bodily injury or death, Hunt County District Attorney Noble D. Walker Jr. said Monday in a prepared news release.
A trial was scheduled to have begun Monday in Hunt County 354th District Court.
Walker said Beckett waived her right to a jury trial. A sentencing hearing will be held Dec. 4 in the 354th District Court following the completion of a presentence investigation report.
“The defendant chose to plead guilty with no agreement as to her punishment,” Walker said. “She can receive any punishment from a probated sentence to 10 years in prison. Although we were prepared to prove our case to either the judge or a jury, the defendant has now admitted her guilt. We will now focus our efforts on presenting evidence at the sentencing hearing.”
Walker added that even though the state would dismiss another count of tampering with physical evidence against the defendant, the judge would take that charge into consideration in deciding the punishment of the defendant.
West Tawakoni Councilwoman Beckett was arrested in February by the West Tawakoni Police Department on two sealed indictments issued by a Hunt County grand jury.
West Tawakoni Chief of Police Brandon Kilpatrick said Beckett was arrested in West Tawakoni without incident and was taken to the Hunt County jail.
She resigned from her Place 2 position on the council.
Beckett was indicted by the grand jury on charges of accident involving serious bodily injury-death and tampering with physical evidence.
The indictment by the grand jury on the accident involving SBI-death charge states Beckett on or about March 17, 2013, “did then and there intentionally or knowingly drive a vehicle that became involved in an accident resulting in death to Jackie Lynn Blaylock, and the said defendant did thereafter, knowing said accident had occurred, intentionally or knowingly leave the scene of said accident, without giving her name, address, registration number of the vehicle of the defendant, or the name of the defendant’s motor vehicle liability insurer to any person, and without rendering reasonable assistance to Jackie Lynn Blaylock when it was then apparent that Jackie Lynn Blaylock was in need of medical treatment…”
The indictment on the tampering with physical evidence charge claims Beckett on or about March 18, 2013, “did then and there, knowing that an investigation was pending and-or in progress, to wit: an investigation into the death of Jackie Lynn Blaylock, intentionally or knowingly alter, destroy and-or conceal evidence of a crime, namely: 2003 Chevy Suburban, with intent to impair its availability as evidence in the investigation…”
The case was transferred from the 196th District Court to the 354th District Court of Judge Richard A. Beacom.
The 38-year-old Blaylock was found by a West Tawakoni Police officer at the intersection of State Highway 276 and Waterline Road early Sunday morning, March 17, 2013.
At the time of the accident, Kilpatrick said Officer Barbara Peacock was patrolling when she observed a pair of shoes lying in the roadway. “Officer Peacock turned her vehicle around and investigated and observed a female in the roadway,” he said.
After further investigation, she found a vehicle had struck the woman.
“When Officer Peacock approached, she noticed she had injuries and notified AMR Ambulance,” the police chief said. “When AMR arrived, they determined the female was deceased.”
The district attorney praised the West Tawakoni Police Department and Texas Ranger Laura Simmons for their investigation in this case.
“We appreciate the hard work that both the West Tawakoni Police Department and Ranger Simmons put into this case,” he said. “The work they performed very likely influenced the defendant’s decision to admit her guilt without the necessity of a trial.”