Ex-A&M football player given life in prison for machete attack that killed Dallas man

A former Texas college football player who was found guilty on Tuesday of randomly killing a 53-year-old Dallas man was sentenced to life in prison just before noon on Wednesday.

Jurors began deliberating on Wednesday morning in the punishment phase of Thomas Johnson’s murder trial. They found him guilty of hacking David Stevens to death with a machete after deliberating about 15 minutes Tuesday. The minimum sentence Johnson faces is five years.

Johnson, 25, appeared in a Dallas courtroom for the start of his trial on Monday after years of litigation over whether he was mentally competent to be tried.

Johnson’s relatives said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia before the attack. Johnson played football for Texas A&M in 2012 until he disappeared mid-season and turned up days later at his family’s home.

Moments after killing Stevens in 2015, Johnson called police and confessed, prosecutors said. On Monday, they argued that DNA found on the clothing Johnson wore matched the DNA of Stevens.

Johnson’s attorneys didn’t call any witnesses during the trial, but did call some family members during the punishment phase of the trial on Tuesday.

Stevens’ horrific 2015 death careened into further tragedy weeks later when his wife of 25 years took her own life. Before her suicide, Patti Smith told the Dallas Morning News that she hadn’t been sleeping or eating since her husband’s death.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published May 1, 2019 at 10:23 AM with the headline "Ex-A&M football player given life in prison for machete attack that killed Dallas man."