NEW BOSTON, Texas–A former Cornerstone Nursing Center caretaker was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for slapping an 87-year-old dementia patient as she laid in bed last year.
Sharee Shantrell Bryant, 49, was convicted of injury to an elderly or disabled person Wednesday and on Thursday, a Bowie County jury opted for a prison sentence rather than a term of probation–as requested by the defense–following the sentencing phase of trial. The jury also imposed a $7,000 fine which will go to the State of Texas.
Bryant was caught on video March 9, 2022, entering the elderly patient’s room and slapping her across the face at the nursing home on Moores Lane in Texarkana, Texas, according to a probable cause affidavit. The woman’s son placed a hidden camera near her bed after noticing bruises on her that the staff couldn’t explain.
The Texarkana Texas Police Department responded to a call from an administrator at the nursing facility about the alleged abuse March 25, 2022. An officer viewed the video with the elderly woman’s son and turned the case over to a detective.
Because of her age-related disease, the victim was unable to testify or provide a statement to law enforcement.
The investigator noted in the affidavit that the woman was struck with enough force “to cause her torso to lean back and that she reached up and placed her hand on her face afterwards as if she was in pain.”
Bryant was arrested that day and remained in custody until late April 2022 when she was released on a $100,000 bond in the case. At the end of the trial Thursday, Bryant was taken back into custody and will remain in the Bowie County jail until she is transported to a unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Assistant District Attorney Katie Carter represented the state in its prosecution of Bryant. Texarkana lawyer John Delk represented Bryant. Fifth District Judge Bill Miller presided over the trial.
