Diana sex offender gets four life sentences, 20 extra years

From the Upshur County District Attorney's Office

UPSHUR COUNTY, TX - On Monday, June 11, 2018, a jury was selected for the sentencing phase for Mark Randall Beasley, WM, DOB: 04/28/1959 from Diana, Texas.  Mr. Beasley is charged with four counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child and one count of Indecency with a Child.  Mr. Beasley pled guilty to all five counts and had asked the Court for a jury to sentence him.  The defendant was facing 5 – 99 years or life on each offense of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child and 2 – 20 years for the Indecency with a Child offense.  The defendant could also be assessed a fine of up to $10,000.00 for each offense.

READ MORE: Upshur County man pleads guilty to aggravated sexual assault of child, indecency with child

Testimony began in the 115th District Court on Thursday, June 21, 2018 at 9:00 am.  From the age of 2 to 3 ½ years of age, our victim lived with her biological mom.  Her biological mom sold this child and allowed this child to be molested and photographed and passed around in Gregg County.  CPS removed this child victim and placed her with Mark Randall Beasley and his wife.  Mr. and Mrs. Beasley went through the CPS process and was eventually awarded custody on January 27, 2014.  Before they were awarded custody the Beasley's were fully informed about how the oldest child, who was 4 at the time of adoption, had been sexually abused and assaulted.  Since January 27, 2014, our victim has been in intensive counseling and what she thought was a Christian environment in her new home.  In June 2017, the defendant started sexually abusing this child who was only 8 years old even though he knew she had already been sexually assaulted.  From June 2017 through January 2018, this child was molested more than 20 times by her adopted father.  A polygraph was scheduled for January 24, 2018, for Mark Randall Beasley but instead of taking this polygraph he partially confessed to inappropriately touching the child victim, penetrating the child victim, and having her perform sexual acts on him.  He stated he made up a game called "The Freckle Kissing Contest" with her.

The jury took less than 30 minutes to sentence Mark Randall Beasley to four separate life sentences for each Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child offense and 20 years for the Indecency of a Child offense.  The Judge then ordered these sentenced to be served consecutively (stacked) meaning Mr. Beasley will not be eligible for parole until the year 2148.

I would like to thank the members of the jury who finally stood up for this child and put a stop to this abuse.

Investigator Freddie Fitzgerald with the Upshur County Sheriff's Office was the lead investigator.  District Attorney Billy W. Byrd and Assistant Catherine McQueen represented the state while the defendant was represented by Gilmer attorney Mr. Matthew Patton.  Honorable Lauren Parish presided over the hearing.