HUMBLE MAN SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS FOR ARMED CARJACKING IN BRENHAM

  

An Humble man was found guilty and sentenced this week in connection to an armed carjacking in Brenham in 2020.

A jury sentenced 21-year-old Zavien Mayweather on Friday to 20 years in prison and 180 days in state jail for Aggravated Robbery and Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle.  He will have to serve half of his sentence before being eligible for parole. 

Prosecutors say on February 23, 2020, Mayweather ordered an active-duty officer in the United States Air Force, who was sitting in his truck outside a local hotel in the early morning, to get out at gunpoint.  

Mayweather and a female codefendant fled in the vehicle, which was quickly identified on South Austin Street.  The vehicle led police on a short pursuit before both occupants jumped out of the passenger door and fled. 

Inside the truck, Brenham police located the firearm that was used in the robbery.  In November 2020, the DPS Crime Lab matched prints off the gun to Mayweather.

Mayweather had been interviewed by a Humble Police Department detective on February 24, 2020 after police say he ran from them when they tried to arrest him for an aggravated robbery at a local restaurant the day before, 12 hours after the Brenham robbery.  He admitted to that offense, as well as an aggravated robbery at the Humble Waffle House on February 16, 2020 with the same gun that was recovered in Brenham.  Those cases are pending in Harris County.

During the punishment trial, the jury heard of multiple prior misdemeanor convictions for Evading Arrest and Terroristic Threat, including one that was reduced by the Harris County District Attorney from Aggravated Assault where Mayweather allegedly threatened someone with a firearm. 

Aggravated Robbery is a first degree felony.  The punishment range for a first degree felony is 5-99 years, or life, in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.  Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle is a State Jail Felony, punishable by 180 days - 2 years in a state jail facility and up to a $10,000 fine.  In each case, the defendant was eligible for probation.

First Assistant District Attorney Derek Estep and Assistant District Attorney Ryon Adams represented the State at trial.  The defendant was represented by Lee Van Richardson.

In his closing argument, Estep encouraged the jury to “send a message on behalf, and in protection, of your fellow citizens of Washington County.”  Afterwards, he said, “This officer in the US Air Force was visiting Brenham, minding his own business and had someone put a gun in his face to steal his truck.  Our citizens won’t stand for that, and I hope the message is clear.”  He went on to thank local law enforcement for “the tremendous amount of work that was done to see this case through completion.”