NEW BOSTON, Texas–A former Cornerstone Nursing Center aide was found guilty Wednesday by a Bowie County jury of physically abusing an 87-year-old dementia patient.
Sharee Shantrell Bryant, 49, was convicted of injury to an elderly or disabled person Wednesday. Testimony in the punishment phase of her trial is expected to resume Thursday at the Bowie County courthouse in New Boston before Judge Bill Miller of Texas’ Fifth District.
.
Bryant faces two to ten years in prison although the jury has the option to recommend probation.
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.
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.”
A verdict in the trial’s sentencing phase is expected Thursday.
