Grapevine veterinarian’s killer sentenced to 50 years

A Haltom City man convicted of fatally shooting a Grapevine veterinarian, after which he went to McDonald’s and later had sex with his girlfriend, was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years in prison.

Jeffrey Hansana, 26, pleaded guilty in September to a murder charge, admitting that on March 3, 2013, he fired a .45-caliber handgun at Dr. Deidra Blackmon after a chance meeting and argument at a Saginaw convenience store.

After a pre-sentencing investigation that took six months to complete, state District Judge Scott Wisch scheduled testimony for Wednesday. Five people testified during the day-long court session.

Hansana, wearing a green Tarrant County Jail jumpsuit and leg irons, rarely talked to his attorney and didn’t write a word on a piece of paper provided for him.

The courtroom was packed with relatives and friends of the veterinarian.

Chris and Debbie Blackmon testified that their daughter had plans with another veterinarian to open their own clinic. Deidra Blackmon was an excellent surgeon, a mechanic, a gardener and she loved to laugh, they said.

Her killing “permanently scarred our family for life,” Debbie Blackmon said, crying on almost every word. “I have never hurt so much.”

“It’s still a fresh wound,” Chris Blackmon testified. “It’s a very huge loss.”

During his closing arguments, defense attorney Jay Caballero told Wisch that he wasn’t offering excuses for the killing, but that Hansana, whose IQ is 70, grew up with social disorders, had no family support, began smoking marijuana at the age of 10 or 11, and started drinking excessively at the age of 13.

“It’s an explanation of why he is the way he is,” Caballero said.

Wisch said the slaying was not because of personality disorders.

“This case was about drugs and a gun,” Wisch said. “This is about an ex-con with a gun who was paranoid that night.”

Hansana must serve at least half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

On the night of March 2, 2013, Blackmon, 33, and two friends had been at the Fort Worth Stockyards, celebrating an upcoming wedding, when they stopped at a Saginaw convenience store. There they got into an argument with Hansana’s girlfriend, Heather Thompson, and then drove away.

Witnesses testified that Hansana had been drinking that night and had taken methamphetamine and Xanax. He told psychologists that he was paranoid as he saw Blackmon driving a car that was about to pass him on East Bailey Boswell Road.

He shot Blackmon as she drove past Hansana. The car veered into a field.

Authorities arrested Hansana and Thompson, 24, a few days later in Haltom City after police released a photo of a woman who was in the store minutes before Blackmon was shot. A tipster identified the woman as Thompson.

In September, Thompson was sentenced to 330 days in jail for failure to report the killing. She was released shortly after being sentenced for time already served.

Thompson was also sentenced to 330 days on three other charges unrelated to the killing of Blackmon. Those sentences ran concurrently.

Wednesday afternoon, Debbie Blackmon held up photos of her daughter and told Hansana to look at them.

“There are no words to explain how it is to lose someone you loved so much,” Debbie Blackmon said as she fought back tears. “Our entire life is now a sentence of pain and emptiness.”

This report includes material from Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published April 1, 2015 at 6:08 PM with the headline "Grapevine veterinarian’s killer sentenced to 50 years."