Say What Now? Man Convicted of Strangling Daughter on FaceTime with Her Mother Attacks Reporter Before Verdict

Drama broke out just outside the courtroom ahead of the verdict in the trial of man charged with strangling his 2-year-old daughter to death while FaceTiming her mother and grandfather.

Jurors deliberated for a few hours before returning the verdict in the trial of Deontray Flanagan in downtown Houston.

Zevaya Flanagan was an adorable 2-year-old girl with a bubbly personality, pigtails and an endearing smile.

In March 2023, the Houston toddler’s life came to a horrifying end as her mother and grandfather watched helplessly on FaceTime. Prosecutors said Zevaya was strangled and beaten by her father, Deontray Flanagan, during a 45-minute police chase.

During the first day of testimony on Wednesday, jurors saw video inside a deputy’s squad car during the chase. Zevaya’s mother, Kairsten Watson, was screaming and pleading with Flanagan to stop hurting their daughter. At one point, she said, “He’s killed her, he’s killing her.”

“I know in her mind she probably was just like, ‘What did I do?’ Watson told KHOU 11 in 2023. “‘Why are you doing this to me? Like, I love you, why are you hurting me?’”

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office tried to pull Flanagan over but he kept going. During the chase that followed, Zevaya, who wasn’t in a car seat or buckled in, was tossed around the car. Defense attorneys claimed that’s what caused her fatal injuries.

Curtis Watson said they tried to reason with Flanagan on the phone and hoped he would come to his senses.

“But then he showed me the lifeless corpse of my granddaughter,” Curtis said. “I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. To have to go through that type of anguish and pain.”

A SWAT team eventually arrested Flanagan after a standoff.

Zevaya was airlifted to Memorial Hermann but she died at the hospital.

“Her smile could light up anyone’s darkest days,” Kairsten Watson said in court Friday.

“You may have taken last breath, but you cannot kill her spirit, her memory, or her name,” Curtis Watson said Friday.

During a break in testimony at the Harris County Family Law Center, Deontray Flanagan was walking in the hallway in plain clothes. His hands were free but his ankles were shackled. Flanagan lunged at a KHOU 11 photojournalist’s camera, causing the camera to tip back.

Several Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies quickly tackled Flanagan and handcuffed him.

via: KHOU*11

Jurors will begin deliberating Flanagan’s sentence on Monday.

The post Say What Now? Man Convicted of Strangling Daughter on FaceTime with Her Mother Attacks Reporter Before Verdict appeared first on LOVEBSCOTT.