Xavier Lavar French, 20, pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping in Bowie County.
French was indicted last year for the June 29, 2019, attack on a mother and her toddler at an apartment in Texarkana, Texas. The mother told Texarkana, Texas, police that she was getting out her keys when she was pistol whipped from behind in front of her apartment door in the 600 block of Champion Place.
The woman reported that she fell to the ground after being struck in the head. French pulled her up by her hair and continued to hit her with a gun as he demanded she open her apartment door. The woman said French grabbed her young son, held him to his hip and pointed a gun to the child’s head while threatening to kill him and demanding money.
The woman said that she went to her bathroom where she kept a bag with cash. Unable to find the bag in the dark, the woman turned on the light. The woman reported that she threw the bag with $600 in cash behind her and threw herself into the bathtub. While falling into the tub, the woman caught sight of the man behind her in a mirror and recognized him as someone she knows as, “X.” She later identified French from a photo lineup.
French has asked that a jury determine his sentence. A punishment trial is scheduled to begin next week at the Bowie County courthouse in New Boston, Texas. Jury selection is scheduled for Tuesday before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell.
French is currently being held in the Bowie County jail. He faces five to 99 years or life on both the aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping charges.
