Lisa Randolph, right, and family leave the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center on Monday, March 30, 2026, after the sentencing verdict of a woman who killed her husband, Fort Worth Police Sgt. Billy Randolph. DeAujalae Evans received a sentence of life in prison for intoxication manslaughter causing the death of a peace officer.
Amanda McCoy
amccoy@star-telegram.com
A jury in Tarrant County on Monday showed no leniency to a woman who, after drinking shots of tequila, recklessly drove a car into a Fort Worth police sergeant as he stood on an interstate ramp, killing the department mentor and husband of 35 years.
In assessing a life prison term for DeAujalae Evans, the jury selected the most severe penalty for intoxication manslaughter causing the death of a peace officer, the offense to which Evan pleaded guilty as the jury began to hear evidence in the case of the death of Sgt. Billy Randolph.
The jury was directed to arrive at a sentence of five to 99 years, or life. Evans will become eligible for parole after she has served 30 years, though a pending probation revocation motion in connection with a case in which she shot her girlfriend in the months before the crash could extend her time in prison.
“I want you to know Ms. Evans, you just heard my husband’s voice,” Randolph’s wife, Lisa, told the defendant after the verdict, noting that it had been 569 days since she had heard it.
Fort Worth police Sgt. Billy Randolph was killed in the line of duty Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, when he was hit by a drunk driver on Interstate 35W. Fort Worth Police Department
“It was a terrible choice and there’s no mercy to be given,” Assistant Criminal District Attorney Brittane Hamilton said in the state’s closing argument in Criminal District Court No. 2 in Tarrant County.
Randolph’s wife and daughter were in the courtroom gallery throughout the trial with other relatives and the sergeant’s former colleagues.
Randolph was standing outside his vehicle at the scene of an 18-wheeler crash and fire when he was struck by Evans’ car.
This story was originally published March 30, 2026 at 4:13 PM.
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Emerson Clarridge covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He works days and reports on law enforcement affairs in Tarrant County. He previously was a reporter at the Omaha World-Herald and the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York.