(Editor’s note: Portions of this trial coverage were provided by Sara Vanden Berge with Beneath the Surface News.)
Wyndi Veigel-Gaudette Content Editor
In a trial full of twists and turns, Charles Broyles, also known as the “vigilante shooter,” is headed to prison after being convicted of aggravated assault of a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and must serve half of the time before he is eligible for parole.
The shooting took place on Dec. 3, 2023, when Broyles shot registered sex offender Randell Cowan in the face.
Broyles, who is deaf, was assisted by a team of sign language interpreters throughout the trial.
Punishment phase
Court was delayed for almost an hour prior to sentencing on Friday, June 6 as attorneys and Judge Jason Cashon conferred on a letter from Broyles being read to the jury before the punishment phase began.
Under oath and after being advised of the consequences of doing so by defense attorneys Ryan Taylor and Brady Pendleton, a translator on behalf of Broyles read a letter he wrote.
The letter reads as follows: “Your honor, if you would be so kind to speak this. Alan Nash I hope you can change legislatures to update laws to give death, or life sentence to child molesters or rapists. After all that’s part of being prosecutor to witness and bring it up further up in law or the system, or at least create a Special Victims Unit in this town.”
The letter also included asking Judge Cashon to sentence him to 20 years without parole.
District Attorney Alan 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?”
Nash also referred to a letter communication between Judge Juanita Torres who was serving as magistrate and the defendant when he was arrested on the charge.
The letter was written due to his hearing impairment, and she referred to his rights and the charges. The defendant wrote back that he did not recognize her as a judge because she was ‘part of the hypocrisy that let rapists and child molesters run free.’
Taylor closed with the following remarks.
“I’m not going to stand up here for the next 20 minutes and say ‘I think this, or I think that.’ It’s real simple I think ya’ll have figured that out. Charles told you, ‘It’s real simple.’ Thank you.”
After about an hour of deliberations, the jury gave Broyles 20 years, and he must serve at least 10 years before he will be eligible for parole.
Trial begins Tuesday, June 3
As testimony started off on Tuesday, a large number of spectators could be seen in the courtroom.
In opening statements, District Attorney Alan Nash said it didn’t take long for the police to suspect someone was targeting sex offenders.
Shortly after the shooting occurred, there were two additional reports of someone knocking on the front doors of other sex offenders in Stephenville.
In defense’s opening remarks, attorney Ryan Taylor stated that police had “tunnel vision” when it came to the investigation.
“Police never considered anyone else, ever,” he said.
The first witness to take the stand was Danielle Heizer, a former dispatcher with the Stephenville Police Department and that she had received the 9-1-1 call in reference to the emergency at Starlight Mobile Home Park.
The caller was Thelma Cowan, the mother of Randell Cowan, who had been shot in the face when he answered the door.
Nash played the entire 9-1-1 call for jurors.
Initially, Thelma thought her son had been stabbed and cried out for help on the 9-1-1 recording.
SPD now Sgt. Trevor Augustus was the first officer on scene and witnessed Cowan on all fours with a large amount of blood pooling underneath him, and on his face.
Neither Cowan nor his mother could describe the assailant or if they fled on foot or by vehicle.
Officers immediately searched the mobile home park and secured it for EMS to come in, but did not locate a suspect.
Augustus did discover a serrated kitchen knife and a shell casing on the front porch.
It was later determined that Cowan answered the door holding the knife and that the shell casing was from the bullet the assailant used to shoot him.
Cowan was transported by air to a Fort Worth hospital and survived the attack.
SPD Sgt. Eric Hunt explained to jurors how investigators began piecing together the case.
He said that hours after the shooting, Broyles walked into the Stephenville Police Department wearing a mask and backpack across his chest.
He held up a sign for the security camera that read, “Left Barbara Broyles car at front of Brady Pendleton’s office. Please don’t tow,” then left behind a set of car keys.
A still frame from that footage showing Broyles without the mask, helped police identify him.
Another individual, Brandon Crank, testified that his girlfriend woke him up about 6 a.m. on Dec. 4, 2023 (the day after the shooting) when someone began knocking on the door.
When he opened it, he saw a man he identified as Broyles pulling open the screen door, holding out a typed message on his cell phone asking if anyone else was home.
“I shook my head ‘no’ and he left after that,” Crank said.
“There was just something about this that seemed off, so I went ahead and contacted police,” Crank told jurors.
He said a man who lives in the house with him is a registered sex offender.
About 2 p.m. on Dec. 4, Broyles was taken into custody while exiting his mother’s house, officer Paula Mays told jurors.
On his person, police found a pistol and loaded magazine consistent with the shell casing found at the scene of the shooting.
(Following information from Sara Vanden Berge)
Wednesday, June 4
Wednesdaycontainedsome unusual court proceedings as Defendant Charles Broyles asked to speak to Judge Jason Cashon in an off-therecord conversation.
During early morning testimony, Broyles appeared to become agitated and repeatedlyaskedhistranslator to stop the proceedings.
After a break with his attorneys Ryan Taylor and Brady Pendleton, he returned and asked to speak to the judge off-the-record.
His attorneys advised him against it and Cashon made sure that the defendant understood anything that was said could be used against him.
“At this point in time do you understand your Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination?” Cashon asked, to which Broyles answered that he did, Vanden Berge wrote in her coverage.
Prior to the start of the conversation, Broyles was given an oath and the court reporter was asked not to record the conversation, the details of which could not be heard in the courtroom.
The details of this conversation were not made public.
Thursday, June 5
Prior to the jury starting their deliberations which would ultimately find Broyles guilty of the charges, both Nash and Taylor offered closing remarks.
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,” he 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.
The victim of the shooting, Cowan, took the stand on Thursday and told the jury 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 where he and his mom lived together.
“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” and 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.
After the week long trial concluded and Broyles was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison, District Attorney Alan Nash offered 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.”