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WINNSBORO\u00e2\u20ac\u201c Our KETK news partner reports that a 74-year-old East Texas man has been sentenced to 15 years in state prison after a 2020 murder in Winnsboro.<\/p>\nWINNSBORO\u00e2\u20ac\u201c Our KETK news partner reports that a 74-year-old East Texas man has been sentenced to 15 years in state prison after a 2020 murder in Winnsboro.<\/p>\n
According to the Wood County Criminal District Attorney, police arrested Billy Dwaine Cotten, 74, of Winnsboro, on May 13 of 2020 after they found him covered in the blood of Steven Wayne Lancaster. Officers were responding to reports of a stabbing at Bob\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Garage on East Carnegie Street, Albers said.<\/p>\n
They found Lancaster on the floor of the garage and he was rushed to the where he later died, according to a press release. Cotten was still at the scene and he reportedly told the officers \u00e2\u20ac\u0153he kicked me and I stabbed him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Cotten also reportedly told law enforcement that he and Lancaster were arguing about a scooter battery when the argument got physical. Cotten is quoted by officials as saying he \u00e2\u20ac\u0153had to kill [Lancaster] or [Lancaster would] stomp me in the ground.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Security footage from Bob\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Garage shows Cotten following Lancaster with a knife as he was leaving the garage. Lancaster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wife testified that \u00e2\u20ac\u01533-4 weeks before the incident [Cotten] told me if he and [Lancaster] got into another argument, he would stab [Lancaster].\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am very pleased with the jury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s verdict in this case. The jury saw through the defendant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bogus claim that he acted in self-defense and rightfully convicted him of murder. There was absolutely no reason for Steven Lancaster to die on May 13, 2020. The defendant murdered him because he was angry. It was a senseless tragedy and I am thankful that the jury held this defendant accountable for his actions. I want to commend the Winnsboro Police Department and Chief Ryan Brown for their excellent work investigating this case and helping bring justice to Steven Lancaster and his family.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Wood County Criminal District Attorney Angela L. Albers<\/p>\n
After less than three hours of deliberation the jury in Cotten\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case found him guilty of murder. Cotten reportedly waived his right to an appeal as a part of a deal with Albers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 office and he was sentenced to 15 years with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.<\/p>\n
Cotten will also have to pay a $1,000 fine and court costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WINNSBORO\u00e2\u20ac\u201c Our KETK news partner reports that a 74-year-old East Texas man has been sentenced to 15 years in state prison after a 2020 murder in Winnsboro. According to the Wood County Criminal District Attorney, police arrested Billy Dwaine Cotten, 74, of Winnsboro, on May 13 of 2020 after they found him covered in the … Continue reading Winnsboro man sentenced to 15 years for 2020 murder<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1368144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2024\/11\/garage-murder-Screenshot-2024-11-08-134933-e1731095435561-200x200.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1368134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-22 00:35:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2024\/11\/garage-murder-Screenshot-2024-11-08-134933-e1731095435561-200x200.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1368134"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1368143,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368134\/revisions\/1368143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1368144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1368134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1368134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1368134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}