Published: June 06, 2009 11:17 pm      

Prisoner given 99 years for attack

A 51-year-old Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmate has been sentenced to 99 years in prison after an Anderson County jury found him guilty of assaulting a correctional officer almost four years ago.

A six-man, six-woman jury found 51-year-old Larry Mayfield guilty of the offense of assault on a public servant last Tuesday at the Anderson County Courthouse.

The defendant had previously elected to have the court assess his punishment if found guilty.

Following a punishment hearing during which the state introduced evidence that the defendant was a habitual offender, 349th State District Judge Pam Foster Fletcher sentenced Mayfield to 99 years in prison.

Allyson Mitchell, attorney with the Special Prosecution Unit, represented the state during the trial, while the defendant was represented by Barbara Law, attorney with the State Counsel for Offenders.

During the trial’s punishment phase, Mitchell introduced evidence showing Mayfield had previously been convicted of three felonies, including aggravated robbery in 1980, robbery in 1984 and burglary of a building in 1994.

Based on enhancements, the range of punishment on Mayfield’s charge was 25 to 99 years.

Mayfield was serving a 35-year sentence on the burglary conviction when he assaulted two female correctional officers who had escorted him to the Michael Unit infirmary in Tennessee Colony on Aug. 10, 2005.

After X-rays were taken, evidence during the trial showed that Mayfield attempted to remove an officer’s riot baton from her holster and eventually gained control of it, striking her in the face.

After the initial correctional officer fled the room, Mayfield then approached the second officer with the baton, according to testimony during the trial. That officer testified that she attempted to use pepper spray on the subject, but was unable to remove the safety device.

The officer further testified that Mayfield then began to strike her in the head and upper back with the baton he had taken from the first officer. She told the jury she received five staples for a deep laceration to the back of her head and painful red marks to her upper back.

An employee of the University of Texas Medical Branch, the medical service provider for TDCJ, also testified that Mayfield sprayed her in the face with the officer’s pepper spray.

Mitchell said she believes the jury’s verdict and judge’s punishment show that Anderson County citizens take assaults on its correctional officers seriously. She hopes it also sends a message to TDCJ inmates that they will likely face a lengthy prison sentence if they assault an officer.

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Paul Stone may be contacted via e-mail at pstone@palestineherald.com