The office of District Attorney Micheal Murray issued the following press release Friday morning:
District Attorney Micheal Murray reported that on Thursday, May 6, Shawn Ray Wishert, 56, was convicted in Brown County of Continuous Sexual Abuse of Young Child or Children and sentenced to life in prison, the maximum sentence for that offense. Due to the severity of the offense, Wishert will not be eligible for parole.
Assistant District Attorneys LorAnn Garrett Newman and Alex Hunn empaneled a jury Monday and presented evidence over the following two days. The jury found Wishert guilty and sentenced him to life on Thursday.
During the trial, Investigator Chuck Woods of the Brown County Sheriff’s Office testified that law enforcement began investigating the offense in January of 2019. The victim in the charged offense, as well as two prior victims, testified to Wishert’s sexual abuse against them as children. Assistant District Attorneys Newman and Hunn presented further evidence of the trauma Wishert’s actions caused the victim through the testimony of Psychiatrist Raymond Mays and CPS investigator Christina Nelson. D
During the punishment phase of the trial, the jury heard testimony of two additional sexual assault victims of Wishert. The State also presented two prior theft convictions, and a 2006 a Manufacture of Methamphetamine conviction that sentenced him to 30 years in prison.
Wishert will serve the remainder of his life in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.