District court gives Amarillo man 80 years

An Amarillo man was sentenced last week to a total of 80 years for the sexual assault of a child in Donley County.

Vinson Darnell Williams, 51, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the first-degree felony offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child, and a separate 20-year term in prison for the second-degree felony offense of sexual assault of a child when the 100th District Court met in Clarendon for his contested hearing.

District Attorney Luke Inman, along with Assistant District Attorney Harley Caudle, prosecuted the case for the State of Texas, with the Honorable Judge Stuart Messer presiding.

Notably, Messer ordered that the 60-year sentence not begin to run until the 20-year sentence is complete.

Following his arrest on April 29, 2018, Williams was placed on probation for eight years on July 21, 2021. The State filed a motion asking the Court to revoke Williams’ probation on October 21, 2021, based upon his violation of certain conditions of his probation.

At the hearing on Wednesday, the State called three witnesses. Meghan Gribble, Deputy Director of the 100th Judicial District probation department, testified to Williams’ violation of several conditions of probation. Ashli Ernst of the Amarillo Police Department testified that Williams failed to comply with sex offender registration requirements, and Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn testified regarding the circumstances of the sexual assaults.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Messer found that Williams violated the terms of his probation, and sentenced Williams to the separate 60- and 20-year prison terms. Due to the nature of Williams’ offenses under applicable Texas law, he will be required to complete at least 50 percent of each sentence, separately, before becoming eligible for parole.

“Today we saw the best possible outcome for this case,” said Caudle. “Putting this defendant on probation saved the victim the trauma of being re-victimized by having to testify at a trial.”

The court also heard three pleas last week, resulting in sentences in three cases.

James Durkes, 43, of Denver, Colo., was sentenced to 18 months in prison for the state jail felony offense of possession of a controlled substance.

Following his arrest on March 29, 2021, Durkes was placed on probation for three years on July 21, 2021. The State filed a motion asking the Court to revoke McIntosh’s probation on October 19, 2021, based upon Durkes’ multiple violations of conditions of his probation.

At the hearing on Wednesday, Durkes admitted to violating probation and Messer sentenced him to 18 months in prison. Durkes was also ordered to pay a $2,500 fine and $305 court costs.

Jeffrey Aaron Brinson, 44, of Childress, was placed on eight years’ probation for the first-degree felony offense of assault by impeding breathing. Brinson was arrested by Childress Police Officer Jessie Zuniga on December 13, 2019.

Brinson was also ordered to pay a $8,000 fine to Childress County, $374 in court costs, have no contact with the victim and complete 400 hours of community service. If his probation is revoked, Brinson faces up to 99 years or life in prison.

In a separate case, Brinson was placed on eight years’ probation for the first-degree felony offense of assault family violence, enhanced. In this case, Brinson was arrested by former Childress Police Officer Tyler Kincaid on May 26, 2020.

Brinson was also ordered to pay $374 in court costs, have no contact with the victim and complete 400 hours of community service. If his probation in this case is revoked, Brinson faces up to 99 years or life in prison.

Additionally, if the probation is revoked, Messer can order that any prison sentence in this case be served consecutively to any prison sentence in Brinson’s other case.