Tyler

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

Tiffany Nicole Walton was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon for holding up a pizza delivery man at gunpoint because she needed money to pay off her probation fees.

The 23-year-old Tyler woman was found guilty of the first-degree felony by a Smith County jury in 7th District Judge Kerry Russell’s court on Thursday. She was sentenced and assessed a $10,000 fine after two and a half hours. Ms. Walton, who faced probation or five years to life in prison, will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years. Jurors found that although she did not exhibit a deadly weapon, she knew a gun would be used in the offense.

Narauda Jermaine Thompson, 22, pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and admitted to being the gunman during the April 14, 2007, robbery of Oscar Barker on Adams Street in Tyler.

Sharonda Hampton, 23, who was allegedly in the getaway car during the robbery, was also caught by police with Thompson and Ms. Walton in a car, along with the victim’s wallet and the rifle used in the robbery. Ms. Hampton has also been charged with aggravated robbery.

Barker testified that Thompson held the gun to the back of his neck while Ms. Walton yelled at him to hand over all of his money or Thompson would kill him. Later that night, the suspects were stopped by police and Barker identified Ms. Walton and Thompson as the two people who had robbed him while he was delivering their pizzas.

During closing arguments, Assistant Smith County District Attorney Richard Vance asked the jury to sentence Ms. Walton to life in prison. He asked them to think of Barker laying on the cold ground with a rifle pointed to the back of his head and hearing Ms. Walton yelling “he’ll kill you.”

He said Ms. Walton created the plan and encouraged the robbery. He said she was on probation at the time of the offense and she didn’t deserve probation for the robbery. Vance said she should get more prison time than Thompson received from the judge.

Defense attorney Kurt Noell said his client had no prior felonies and only two misdemeanors.

Ms. Walton has a prior juvenile adjudication for assaulting her mother in 2001, as well as a misdemeanor conviction of driving with a suspended license. Her probation was revoked in June 2007 for not paying her court fees by April 10, 2007.

“You decide what happens to Tiffany Walton,” Noell said, asking the jurors to consider the entire punishment range. He said a 10-year sentence would be a long punishment.

He said she would have been charged with the same offense if the victim had been beaten with the gun or shot; but he wasn’t. Noell said the jurors must look at the specific offense and the actions of Ms. Walton and her co-defendants.

Vance said the fear and terror the victim experienced was enough for a life sentence. He said the maximum punishment would tell Ms. Walton and the community that what she did was unacceptable.

Thompson testified twice during the trial, saying it was him and Ms. Walton who robbed the man while Ms. Hampton waited unknowingly in the car. He said he wasn’t lying about Ms. Walton’s involvement to help Ms. Hampton, who is the mother of his child.

The defense contended that the victim identified the wrong woman. And Ms. Walton’s sister testified that Ms. Walton was with her during the time of the robbery.

During the punishment trial, the defendant’s aunt, Sherryl Harvey, testified about Ms. Walton’s three children, 2-year-old twins and a 3-year-old. Prior to the robbery incident, Ms. Walton and her children lived with Ms. Harvey, she said, adding that she worked part-time and helped her around the house.

Betty Street, Ms. Walton’s grandmother, said the defendant lived with her for about a year, until March and that Ms. Walton worked during that time.

Tiffany Nicole Walton
(Courtesy Smith County Sheriff)