That’s after a Brazos County district court jury this week convicted 38 year old Talawrence Tennell of capital murder in the death of his girlfriend’s seven month old daughter.
According to the arrest report, the February 2015 death took place while the mother was out of the house.
The child sustained multiple skull and rib fractures, a broken left femur, a dislocated or broken right wrist, multiple abrasions on her face and head, and bruises on her chest and the bottoms of her feet.
During the police interview, Tennell said he was under the influence of PCP after a bottle of the liquid broke in a pants pocket and the drug was absorbed into his skin.
Click below for comments from Jarvis Parsons, visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver.
News release from the Brazos County district attorney’s office:
Talawrence Tennell, 38, will spend the rest of his life in prison after a Brazos County jury convicted him of Capital Murder. He will not be eligible for parole.
Tennell was arrested on February 25, 2015 after 7 month old Hailey Burleson died from blunt force trauma to her head and body.
Baby Hailey’s mother left her with the defendant to take her older daughter to an eye doctor appointment.
When she returned, she found Tennell holding the lifeless baby and immediately called 911, who had not been called by Tennell.
The only explanation given was that Hailey had fallen off the bed When she arrived at the hospital, Baby Hailey was covered in bruises and suffered from broken wrists, a broken arm, a broken femur, broken ribs and a shattered skull.
Emergency personnel and the emergency room doctor testified that these were the worst injuries they had seen in their career.
The brain was injured as a result of the force and trauma suffered.
Testimony showed that these injuries could not have occurred from falling off a bed.
During the course of the investigation, officers determined that Tennell was high on PCP at the time of the murder. Tennell also made statements that he had smoked PCP that day, presumably while taking care of the child.
Voluntary intoxication on drugs or alcohol is not a defense to committing a crime in the State of Texas and, therefore, the jury found Tennell to still be responsible for his conduct in the death of Hailey.