KAUFMAN, Texas — District Attorney Erleigh Norville Wiley announced today that a Kaufman County jury has sentenced Laquoncy Deshard Ellis, 41, to 38 years in the Texas penitentiary.
KAUFMAN, Texas — District Attorney Erleigh Norville Wiley announced today that a Kaufman County jury has sentenced Laquoncy Deshard Ellis, 41, to 38 years in the Texas penitentiary.
Ellis pled guilty to the 3rd Degree Felony offense of Evading Arrest or Detention with a Vehicle. On July 19, 2022, following a two-day trial before the Honorable Judge Casey Blair in the 86th District Court of Kaufman County, the jury handed down Ellis’s sentence.
As proven at trial, on September 9, 2021, Ellis was apprehended after refusing to pull over for a Sheriff’s Deputy in Forney, TX. Kaufman County Sheriff’s Deputy William Kennedy attempted a traffic stop on Ellis’s vehicle for erratic driving and expired registration. Upon seeing the Deputy’s emergency lights, Ellis immediately accelerated and led law enforcement on a high-speed chase down Highway 80. Ellis continued driving at speeds in excess of 110 miles per hour for nearly 10 minutes before being stopped in a construction zone on Interstate 635.
Ellis has an extensive criminal history, including multiple convictions for assault, evading arrest, and driving while intoxicated. As a result, the applicable punishment range in Ellis’s case was 25 to 99 years or Life in the Texas penitentiary. The State was seeking 75 years. The jury assessed Ellis’s punishment at 38 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division.
The prosecution was led by Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Taylor McConnell and Heather Ragsdale. Investigator Sandra Ortiz and paralegal Yolanda Murphy were instrumental to trial preparation. Additionally, the District Attorney’s Office would like to thank Kaufman County Sheriff’s Deputies William Kennedy and William Holden for their incredible testimony at trial.