Shayla Boniello will spend the rest of her life in a Texas prison after agreeing to a plea deal in 20th District Court in the Milam County Courthouse in Cameron on Thursday.
Nov. 12 had been set as a procedural hearing for a later jury trial for the murder of 20-monthold Patricia Ann “Annie” Rader, but the plea agreement cancels any further criminal litigation.
“This morning in Judge John W. Youngblood’s 20th District Court of Milam County, Shawn Vincent Boniello aka Shayla Angelina Boniello, 32, of Rockdale and formerly of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole after pleading guilty to capital murder,” said Milam County District Attorney Bill Torrey in a news release.
The family was not pleased with the deal.
“The family does not agree with this. We think there should be death or a jury trial,” the child’s great-uncle Thomas Bond told the judge.
“I hope you know you destroyed this family. That baby didn’t deserve what she got. You deserve to die. I thank God you will never walk the streets again. You will die in prison,” Bond said, looking at the defendant.
“I hope you see that baby’s face every single day,” said a tearful Audrey Blythe, whose husband is related to the deceased child. Blythe is a court appointed special advocate in Montgomery County.
“In no way is life without parole what we wanted. He showed no mercy to Annie,” Rachel Bond, the victim’s great-aunt, said.
The family of the child who was killed in December of 2018 still refers to the convicted murderer as Shawn Vincent Boniello which was the man’s name at the time of the crime. But a court in New Mexico accepted the legal name change of the transgendered individual from Shawn Vincent to Shayla Angelina last year, according to court records.
Torrey said that the defendant, with the plea, waived all rights to an appeal.
“The state was recently provided with evidence that Boniello suffers from a traumatic brain injury. Boniello’s nonviolent past and traumatic brain injury would have rendered any death verdict insufficient and thus be reversed on appeal,” Torrey said.
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