The trial of a man accused of shooting Trooper Damon Allen on Thanksgiving in 2017 is set to begin Monday, February 21, 2022 in Brazos County, Texas.
The schedule includes jury selection on February 21 and 22 with testimony beginning on the morning of February 28th.
The Court has set aside two weeks to complete the trial. If found guilty, Dabrett Black will be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
There has been a recent agreement between the State and defense of Black that the death penalty would not be pursued in exchange for the waiver of the insanity defense.
“After spending years with this case, reviewing the medical records, and long discussions with the family, I feel that this agreement is in the best interest of everyone involved” said Freestone County Attorney Brian Evans. “It was our realization based on the medical records that the State of Texas would not follow through with the actual execution of Dabrett Black.”
“This was discussed at length with the family, and they are in full agreement with the decision to waive the death penalty,” said County Attorney Evans.
He continued his explanation by stating, “It has become the normal procedure for a death penalty to take decades to finalize after all of the appeals are exhausted. Further, there are many times that the State will ultimately commute the sentence to life in prison without parole or even send back to the trial court to retry the punishment phase of the trial.”
“The path that was chosen to waive the death penalty will allow the case to be finalized in an expedited fashion and provide closure for the family and widow, Kasey Allen,” said County Attorney Evans.
It was initially thought that a death penalty trial in this case would take 2 to 3 months to complete. It is now expected that testimony will range from 1 to 2 weeks for the trial to be finalized.
If found guilty, Dabrett Black will automatically be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
