Jury selection was expected to begin Monday in the 2019 shooting death of 23-year-old Muhlaysia Booker, a Black transgender woman.
Police arrested Kendrell Lavar Lyles weeks after the murder. Now, more than four years later, he appeared in court on Nov. 6.
On Monday, Lyles pleaded guilty and received 48 years in prison for his role in the murder. Victim impact statements are set to take place on Thursday.
An attorney for Lyles said they expect to resolve the other two murder cases involving Lyles in Collin County.
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Muhlaysia Booker’s father, Peirre Booker, spoke to NBC 5 following Monday's sentencing. He said he simply wanted justice for his child.
“I didn’t want him [Lyles] to die. I didn’t want him to take the death penalty,” said Peirre Booker. “I just wanted him to go somewhere where he can think about the trauma that you caused other people’s family.”
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As for Muhlaysia Booker's murder, Dallas Police have not named additional suspects beyond Lyles. However, Peirre Booker isn’t convinced Llyles acted alone and says one question haunts him.
“The only thing I really want to know is what was my child’s last words before y’all committed y’all’s act,” he said.
A statement was released by Booker's mother on The Muhlaysia Booker Foundation's Facebook page:
“No amount of time can bring Muhlaysia back, and although we wish the sentence was capital punishment, our family can finally have some sense of closure knowing that justice was served and he can’t cause any more families hurt and pain” said Stephanie Houston, Founder and Executive Director.
One local leader in the trans community told NBC 5 they’ve been watching this case closely.
Leslie McMurray remembers hearing the news about Booker and attending her funeral soon after. She said it’s been difficult to wait for justice.
“It breaks my heart that Muhlaysia will forever be young because her life was taken away from her. She didn’t get an opportunity to live those hopes and dreams,” McMurray said.
Kendrell Lavar Lyles was arrested in June 2019 for the murder of Booker, who was found shot to death weeks earlier on Valley Glen Drive.
“If indeed this person is responsible for taking Muhlaysia’s life, I hope he faces the full weight of the criminal justice system,” McMurray said.
Booker made headlines before her death after a video went viral showing several people assaulting her in a Dallas parking lot after a car crash on Wilhurt Avenue.
McMurray is the transgender education and advocacy associate for the nonprofit Resource Center in Dallas. In the case of Muhlaysia’s attack and subsequent murder, McMurray said the question for the trans community is why this happened.
“Was she killed because she was transgender and this person hated her, or was there something else going on? You always want to have those answers, and it’s one of those things that, frustratingly, you may never receive,” she said.
Lyles's arrest in 2019 came after tips pointed police to him as a suspect in the deaths of two other victims in North Texas. McMurray said she, like so many others who advocate for trans and gay communities, will follow this case from beginning to end as a show of support for Muhlyasia Booker and many others who never make headlines.
“Our lives aren’t disposable,” said McMurray. “We’re not disposable people.”
