Austin man sentenced to prison time on felony manslaughter charge in Mower County District Court

A third suspect involved in the beating death of an Austin man at his residence in October of 2021 has been sentenced to prison time in Mower County District Court.  

19-year old Francisco Javier Lagunes Silva of Austin was sentenced Thursday to 51 months, or three years and five months in prison, with credit for 449 days already served after pleading guilty in December of 2022 to a felony charge of 2nd degree manslaughter, culpable negligence, creating unreasonable risk in the death of 75-year old William Hall, who was found dead in his Austin residence on October 13th, 2021, when people delivering meals discovered his body.  Court documents state that Hall died from blunt-force injuries with rib fractures and hemorrhaging of various organs.  

Authorities reported that Lagunes Silva, along with 22-year old Tyrone James Williams of Austin and 18-year old Nickalos Dwayne Taylor, also of Austin and a 12-year old male went to Hall’s residence to steal marijuana and wound up killing him.  Court documents stated that a neighbor’s security camera recorded several young males near Hall’s residence on October 12th and captured audio indicating an encounter had taken place between Hall and the young males.

Lagunes Silva had originally pleaded not guilty to felony 2nd degree manslaughter charge, along with felony charges for aiding and abetting aggravated robbery, and aiding and abetting 1st degree assault on November 8th, 2021.  

Williams and Taylor both previously pleaded guilty to a felony charge of 2nd degree manslaughter, culpable negligence, creating unreasonable risk.  Williams was sentenced on December 16th, 2022 to four years, or 48 months in prison, with credit for 278 days already served, and Taylor was sentenced on the same day to 69 months, or five years and nine months in prison, with credit for 416 days already served.  Williams initially pleaded not guilty to the felony manslaughter charge on April 7th, 2022, while Taylor also initially pleaded not guilty on February 7th of last year.