NEW BOSTON, Texas: A Bowie County jury handed down a life sentence Friday for a Texarkana man who shot and killed another at a gas station in February.
Tyvon Montrel Gullatt, 23, was found guilty Thursday of murder by the jury in the Feb. 10 death of Carlos Clark, 25. Friday morning the jury heard additional evidence concerning Gullatt’s prior convictions for misdemeanor theft and his attempt to get his mother to smuggle contraband into the Bowie County jail.
In addition to the life sentence, the jury also assessed Gullatt a maximum $10,000 fine.
Assistant District Attorneys Kelley Crisp and Lauren Richards argued in closing remarks Thursday that Gullatt had his eye on the large amount of cash Clark had in his pocket while playing a dice game earlier in the night at the Sugar Shack. The prosecutors argued that Gullatt followed the Nissan Sentra that Clark was riding in with his friend, Carlos Battle, to the gas station.
Gullatt got in the back seat of the car and pulled out a pistol. Clark was shot in the lower back at such close range that the gun left a muzzle print, Crisp said. Clark and Battle were able to flee the car but Clark died of his wound.
Shortly after the shooting a 911 call was received by emergency dispatchers from Gullatt, Investigator Scott Sartor testified. The call was played for the jury Thursday. Gullatt asks the operator to send an officer to his home on Main Street in Texarkana, Texas, where he lived with family members before telling the operator that someone tried to rob him at the gas station after waving him over to their car.
The pistol found at Gullatt’s home was the murder weapon.
