LIVINGSTON, TEXAS \u2014 A Polk County man convicted earlier this year in the 2024 killing of James McClanahan has now been sentenced to 46 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David Eugene Stimmell was found guilty of Murder on June 19, 2026, after jurors heard two weeks of testimony in the 258th State Judicial District Court. The case centered on McClanahan\u2019s death and the events that led investigators to identify Stimmell as the suspect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Wednesday, August 19, 2026, Judge Travis Kitchens, Jr. presided over the punishment hearing. After reviewing evidence and arguments from both sides, Judge Kitchens imposed a 46 year sentence in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The investigation was led by Detective Javier Segura of the Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office, with assistance from Texas Ranger Roggan Stanzel and multiple law enforcement personnel who helped bring the case forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Polk County Criminal District Attorney Shelly Sitton said the sentence marks the end of a long effort to secure justice for McClanahan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday\u2019s sentence brings this case to a conclusion and holds David Stimmell accountable for the death of James McClanahan. While no sentence can undo the loss suffered by Mr. McClanahan\u2019s family and loved ones, we hope today\u2019s outcome provides some measure of justice and closure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sitton also thanked investigators, prosecutors, jurors, court staff, and victim\u2011assistance personnel for their work throughout the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LIVINGSTON, TEXAS \u2014 A Polk County man convicted earlier this year in the 2024 killing of James McClanahan has now been sentenced to 46 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. David Eugene Stimmell was found guilty of Murder on June 19, 2026, after jurors heard two weeks of testimony in the 258th State […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hvhappens.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hvhappens.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hvhappens.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hvhappens.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hvhappens.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1938"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hvhappens.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1941,"href":"https:\/\/hvhappens.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1938\/revisions\/1941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hvhappens.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hvhappens.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hvhappens.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hvhappens.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}