LA GRANGE MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR 2013 MURDER

  

After just three hours of deliberation, an Austin County jury has found 21-year old Derrick Jamal McKenzie guilty of a LaGrange Capital Murder.

McKenzie’s trial was moved to Austin County after a mistrial was declared during jury selection in February, due to local pre-trial publicity.

McKenzie has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 2059, after serving 40 years.

McKenzie was charged in the stabbing death of Sandra Pfeiffer, who was found dead in a house near La Grange in June of 2013.

Officials said they believe McKenzie, 15-years old at the time, also stole Pfeiffer's vehicle.  He was arrested in a home near Smithville a few hours after Pfeiffer's body was found.

In 2014, while at the Victoria Regional Juvenile Justice Center McKenzie pleaded guilty to a vicious attack on a Family Services worker who was teaching drug awareness and anger management.

McKenzie reportedly slammed the woman’s face into a keyboard, hit her with a clock and pinned her head to the concrete while stomping on it.

Authorities say McKenzie targeted the worker because he thought she would be a bad witness in his murder trial.

He was sentenced to 30 years in that case.