UPDATED: Wichita County prosecutor comments on murder plea deal

A prosecutor shed light Thursday on a plea agreement for a man convicted of shooting William Derek Wright to death last summer during an argument in Wichita Falls. 

James Gunter May pleaded guilty to murder Tuesday in 78th District Court for the Aug. 25 killing of Wright, 34, who was found dead in his front yard, court records show. 

“Both the deceased and the defendant, who knew one another, confronted each other with weapons over a disagreement," Dobie Kosub, chief of the Criminal Division of the Wichita County District Attorney’s Office, said in a statement Thursday. 

May, 32, was wounded with a machete, and Wright was killed by a gunshot wound, Kosub said. 

May was sentenced to 35 years in prison Tuesday for Wright's slaying, court filings show.

First-degree murder is punishable by up to life in prison. 

“This sentence assures accountability for the death, while avoiding the self-defense issues that the defense would have attempted to raise at trial," Kosub said. 

"The defendant also waived his right to appeal as part of the agreement," Kosub said. 

May was being held Thursday in Wichita County Jail, according to online court documents. 

Allegations in probable cause affidavits gave this account:

After shooting Wright in the back and chest about 2:30 a.m. Aug. 25, May drove to his mother's home in Oklahoma. 

May, who arrived bleeding from a serious cut, told his mother he became involved in a disturbance with a man who cut him, and he shot the man.

May later told police he had shot the man and hidden the murder weapon, a silver Taurus Judge with black grips, at his mother's home on North 2489th Lane in Cotton County.

When police responded to a call about 8:23 a.m. for a report of a gunshot victim, they found Wright dead in shrubbery in his front yard in the 1600 block of Hamlin Avenue. 

Witnesses said about 2:30 a.m. that morning, they heard voices, gunshots and a vehicle driving away. 

In the course of the investigation, police found out Wright had formerly been in a relationship with Nataleigh Danielle Dunn, 29, and May was dating her.

May called his mother from Dunn's phone the morning of the killing and arrived there about 3 a.m. with her and a small child. 

While Dunn was detained as part of the investigation, she told investigators May had a handgun at her apartment in the 200 block of East Lincoln Street.

He took the gun to the home on Hamlin Avenue and shot someone with it, she told investigators. 

May was arrested on Aug. 26 in Duncan, Oklahoma, according to a previous Times Record News story. 

Court filings also show May pleaded guilty to robbery Tuesday for stealing an Xbox equipment and games, and a Motorola cell phone on Sept. 12, 2019, in Burkburnett. 

May punched a 29-year-old man in the nose at a home in the 200 block of South Avenue B and said, "I have a gun and will (expletive) kill you if you don't let me take your stuff," according to allegations in court records.

Robbery is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. 

In return for May's guilty pleas, two charges against him were dismissed Tuesday, court filings show:

• A charge of engaging in organized criminal activity in connection with an Oct. 28, 2020, incident involving an alleged assault. The offense is punishable by up to two years in state jail. 
• A charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon in connection with an incident Aug. 25, the day of the murder. The offense is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. 

May has multiple felony convictions in Texas, according to court records. 

More:WFPD: May admits to police he shot Wright, May's girlfriend says same

More:Police identify body found in shrubs, deemed a murder

Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News, covers education, courts, breaking news, politics and more. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Her Twitter handle is @Trishapedia.