Houston area convicted rapist sentenced for murder of 20-year-old father

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - Eight years after committing the crime, a Houston man has been sentenced for the murder of a young father.

Willie Robert Scott, 26, was sentenced to 60 years for the murder of a 20-year-old father in 2015. Scott was already in prison for raping two women at gunpoint eight months before the murder.

"This defendant, who raped two women by gunpoint and shot a young father for money, was a threat to the community and deserves to spend decades in prison," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "Gun violence is pervasive in every neighborhood, and we work hard to get these cases to trial so that families have some closure."

On Oct. 23, 2015, Scott shot Dedrick Coleman, the father of a 2-year-old boy, as he was walking home from a neighborhood store and stole Coleman's money and cell phone.

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Eight months before, on Feb. 20, 2015, Scott raped two women at gunpoint as they were moving into an apartment near his home.

Officers with the Houston Police Department investigating the double rape identified Scott as a suspect and arrested him in May 2016. He was freed on a $30,000 bond.

According to Ogg, Scott pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault on April 21, 2017, and was supposed to be sentenced on June 16, 2017, but investigators say they believed Scott committed a homicide a few years prior based on new information.

While being interviewed by HPD, he confessed to the murder of Coleman in 2015. He was charged with capital murder on June 16, 2017, officials say.

Willie Scott (Photo courtesy of Harris County District Attorney Office)

Scott was sentenced to 60 years in prison on the sexual assault charge on Dec. 11, 2018. Due to capital murder being a separate charge, it had to be death on a separate timeline.

The DA's office said Scott went to trial for Coleman's murder earlier this week and he was convicted of the murder, facing the possibility of life in prison.

According to Ogg, Scott agreed to a 60-year prison sentence while waiving any appeal to avoid risking life in prison. The two 60-year sentences will run concurrently.

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He must serve at least half of the sentence before he is eligible for parole, officials say,

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Raygor, who is assigned to the DA’s Homicide Division, prosecuted the case and said that a waiver of appeal was necessary to finally bring this case to a close.

"Dedrick Coleman’s family has waited for justice since 2015, and with the defendant waiving his right to appeal, the process is over, the case is done, and they can finally move on. They won’t be stuck in limbo waiting for the appellate process to play out," Raygor said. "It was also important to obtain the murder conviction in addition to the rape conviction so that his chances of ever receiving parole are greatly reduced so that he will serve every one of those 60 years behind bars."