Inside the two-story apartment building, constructed of brown and black bricks and plaster exterior walls, O’Tishae Womack’s body lay on her kitchen floor.
A white shopping bag from Albertsons covered her head. A black and white floral comforter lay on top of her legs.
On top of a bed in Fort Worth’s east apartment, her daughter, Ka’Mayria, lay covered in a blanket. The 10-year-old was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. She looked like she was sleeping.
But Ka’Mayria had also disappeared. The little girl’s body was cold.
Both had been strangled by the hands of a man who applied pressure to their necks until they stopped breathing, according to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office report.
Prosecutors allege the killer was Paige Terrell Lawyer, Womack’s 38-year-old boyfriend. Attorney had a history of arrests for domestic violence, with Womack also being the victim before the murders on April 6, 2018, in the 200 block of Shady Lane Drive.
Wrapping his hands around Womack’s neck was his modus operandi, his standard method of injuring his girlfriend, the district attorney’s office said.
The attorney was motivated in part by his fear that Womack would participate in his prosecution in the previous domestic violence cases, the state alleges.
“So he killed her,” prosecutor Dale Smith told the jury in his opening statement in the murder trial that began Monday in Criminal District Court No. 1 in Tarrant County.
The Public Prosecution Service is demanding the death penalty. Jurors first hear evidence and arguments to consider whether the lawyer is guilty or not, before moving to a sentencing phase if the panel convicts him.
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Attorney was charged in February 2020 and the decision to seek the death penalty in the case was made while District Attorney Phil Sorrells’ predecessor, Sharen Wilson, was in office.
The last time a Tarrant County jury sent a suspect to death row was in November 2019, when Hector Acosta was convicted of capital murder. The Mexican drug cartel hitman was found guilty of killing two people in Arlington in 2017, beheading one of the victims and mutilating their bodies with a machete and a two-by-four.
Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Loyd Whelchel is serving as the prosecutor along with Smith.
The jury will hear evidence showing that the suspect’s bloody fingerprint was found on a mop near O’Tishae Womack’s body and that his DNA was found under her fingernails, Smith told the jury.
Attorney Steve Gordon predicted the evidence would be insufficient to convict Attorney of murder.
He encouraged the jury to pay close attention and parse the evidence.
Along with Gordon, attorneys Brian Poe and William Biggs were appointed to represent the attorney.
Judge Elizabeth Beach is presiding over the trial. The jury resumed hearing the state’s case at 8:30 a.m. today.
