Craig Allen Burleson

Craig Allen Burleson (born February 15, 1979 in Bryan, Texas) is a black American convicted killer, stalker (attempted), domestic abuser and drug offender sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice after his third conviction for family violence assault. He also has three convictions for evading arrest, two convictions for resisting arrest, two convictions for violation of a protective order, and a conviction for criminal mischief (vandalism). He currently has pending charges for murder, aggravated robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, tampering with evidence, possession of a controlled substance, failure to appear in court, and possession of marijuana, the first six being felonies. On February 17, 1998, he pled no contest to manslaughter and was sentenced to two years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. On September 19, 2001, he pled guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and was sentenced to three years TDCJ. On August 7, 2006, he pled guilty to misdemeanor family violence assault and was sentenced to a suspended term of up to 365 days in the Brazos County Detention Center and placed on probation for nine months. As part of his probation, he had to perform eighty hours of community service and complete a life skills class. There was also an affirmative finding of family violence, which meant that if he was convicted of the offense a second time, it would be a third degree felony punishable by up to ten years in prison. On September 20, 2007, he pled guilty to the state jail felony of attempted stalking, which was reduced from the third degree felony of stalking, and was sentenced to twenty-three months in state jail. Before his guilty plea, the state had filed two enhancement paragraphs to the stalking charge, alleging that he had previously been convicted and sentenced to prison on two occasions for felonies of the third degree or higher, which would make his punishment range 25 to 99 years in prison or life with parole if he was convicted and the enhancements were found to be true, rendering him ineligible for probation. As per the agreement, the state waived the enhancement paragraphs and allowed him to plead guilty to attempted stalking, a state jail felony with a maximum sentence of twenty-four months. His probation for the assault conviction was also revoked, and he was sentenced to 180 days in county jail to run concurrent with the stalking charge, which he had already served. On February 8, 2010, he pled guilty for a second time to family violence assault and was sentenced to six years TDCJ. On February 15, 2017, his 38th birthday, he pled guilty to possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced to two years TDCJ.

On September 14, 2021, the first day of trial, he pled guilty for a third time to family violence assault (said assault was caught on video) without an agreement and pled true to the enhancement paragraphs of having previously been convicted and sentenced to prison for manslaughter and unlawful possession of a firearm on two occasions. He had previously chosen to have punishment imposed by the judge upon conviction (he could have chosen to have the jury impose a sentence), and the hearing lasted until noon on September 16th, during which the state announced their intention to seek a life sentence and presented evidence of his previous charges and convictions, as well as evidence related to the pending murder, aggravated robbery, unlawful possession, tampering and possession of a controlled substance charges, which was allowed under the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. The state presented approximately twenty witnesses, including the assault victim in the current case, the aggravated robbery victim, several police officers and crime scene investigators, a ballistics expert, and a domestic violence expert, while the defense cross-examined the state's witnesses, but did not present any of their own, as Burleson chose not to testify on the advice of counsel, since he would be subject to cross-examination in relation to his pending cases. After hearing closing arguments, the judge sentenced Burleson to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and informed him of his right to appeal his sentence and not his conviction (his conviction includes the enhancement paragraphs), since he waived his right to appeal the latter as part of his guilty plea, and retained his right to appeal the former due to not entering a plea agreement.