Carter High Players That Went to Jail: Sentences and Time Served

Six members of the 1988 Dallas Carter Cowboys, the Texas Class 5A state champions, were sent to prison after pleading guilty to a string of armed robberies committed in the months following the title game. The Carter High players who went to jail were Keith Campbell, Derric Evans, Gary Edwards, Patrick “P.K.” Williams, Carlos Allen, and Aric Andrews. Their sentences ranged from roughly 13 years to 25 years, and none served the full term.¹

How the Robbery Ring Began

The first robbery came five days after the state championship game. Over the following months, police tied 15 teenagers from the Carter neighborhood to 21 armed robberies across Dallas and Duncanville.² Six of those teens were on the football team.³

The targets were ordinary. A Jack in the Box held up at 2:30 a.m. by three players wearing pantyhose over their heads. A Video Exchange where two star athletes used a .22 revolver to take $256 and a movie rental worth $3.24. A Mexican restaurant that yielded $11,000. One account traced the pattern to a staged robbery at a Taco Bueno, where an employee handed over cash to conspiring players, before the group escalated to genuine holdups at video stores and fast-food restaurants.⁴

Several defendants later testified they had done at least one robbery to get extra cash for prom night.¹ Patrick Williams gave a different account at his pre-sentencing hearing: “I just wanted people to notice me. I just wanted attention. Gold at Carter meant that you were rich. It all depended on how much money you had.”³

Sentences for Each Player

On September 22, 1989, state District Judge Joe Kendall sentenced 12 current and former Carter students on armed robbery charges. All had pleaded guilty. Eleven received prison time; one received deferred adjudication.¹

Here is how the six football players were sentenced:

Keith Campbell received 25 years for involvement in four robberies, the longest sentence of the group. Judge Kendall called him a “sociopath” and the “ringleader.”¹
Derric Evans received 20 years on each of four counts of armed robbery.⁵
Gary Edwards received three 16-year terms for three counts of aggravated robbery.¹
Patrick “P.K.” Williams received 14 years.⁶
Carlos Allen received three 13-year concurrent terms.⁷
Aric Andrews was sentenced within the group’s overall range of 2 to 25 years; his specific term was not reported individually.²

The remaining non-player defendants received terms of 2 to 16 years, and one was sent to a boot camp for young offenders.¹

Why the Judge Went as Hard as He Did

Kendall, a former Dallas County prosecutor who was later appointed to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush, rejected every plea for leniency.² In his sentencing memorandum he wrote, “At the courthouse, it simply doesn’t matter that you can run the football. Actions have consequences.” He said the defendants “committed in six months’ time more armed robberies than Bonnie and Clyde did in their lifetime,” and told them from the bench, “If stupidity were a crime, you would all deserve life without parole.”⁵

Defense attorney Royce West, who represented Gary Edwards, said afterward that he “was still feeling the sting of that decision” and did not speak to Judge Kendall for two years. West believed the judge should have signaled that prison was on the table, which would have given the defense the option of requesting a jury trial instead of a plea. Co-counsel John Creuzot described the impact of the crimes simply: “It set the whole city on fire.”²

What the Convictions Cost the Players

Two of the six had been on their way to major-college football. Derric Evans, a Parade All-American defensive back, had signed a letter of intent with the University of Tennessee. Volunteers coach Johnny Majors told reporters after the arrests that Evans “would not be allowed to play for the university.”⁸ Gary Edwards, a versatile running back and defensive back, lost his scholarship to the University of Houston. Both had been talked about as having professional potential; a D Magazine profile from the period described them as having “unlimited potential for prosperity” before their arrests.⁹

How Much Time They Actually Served

None of the six served the full sentence handed down.

Keith Campbell served seven and a half years of his 25-year term.¹⁰
Derric Evans served about six years of his 20-year sentence.⁴
Gary Edwards served nearly four years.⁴
Patrick Williams served three and a half years of his 14-year sentence.⁶

Information on the players’ lives after release is limited in the public record. Patrick Williams became an associate pastor at his church and was married for more than two decades. He told reporters, “I was young. We made a bad decision. But I’m better than my past now through Christ Jesus.” Campbell was described as someone who “didn’t let the 7 and a half years he spent in prison dictate the rest of his life.”⁶ A 2015 Dallas Morning News retrospective noted that while the players tried to move forward, “shaking the past wasn’t easy.”²

The Teammate Who Said No

Not every Carter star was pulled into the scheme. Jessie Armstead, who went on to play 12 seasons in the NFL and later worked as a special consultant for the New York Giants, turned his teammates down when they approached him on May 18, 1989, to join the robbery ring. Armstead traced his refusal to being caught shoplifting at Red Bird Mall at age 15. He spent six hours in a juvenile correction center, saw “the hurt in his mother’s eyes,” and made a pact with her to stay out of trouble.¹¹

Armstead later said he regretted not alerting coach Freddie James to what his teammates were doing, but did not want to be a “snitch.” He said the crimes deserved consequences, while calling the sentences too heavy: “Anytime that you take something away from somebody else, that is a crime and you should have to pay for it. But to try and take somebody’s full life away from them… that was dead wrong.”¹¹

1
Deseret News. Athletes Sentenced for Roles in Robberies
2
The Dallas Morning News. Carter High School Football
3
NBC DFW. Robberies Overshadowed Carter High’s 1988 State Win
4
Tampa Bay Times. At Decisive Moment, Armstead Went Right
5
UPI. Five Members of Texas Championship Football Team Sent to Prison
6
FOX 4 News. ESPN Film on Dallas Carter High School Premieres Thursday
7
Howard University News Service. Wrong Choices Take Team From Glory to Disaster in New Film
8
UPI. Dallas High School Stars Apologize, Confess to Holdups
9
D Magazine. When Athletes Go Bad
10
CBS News Texas. Men of ’88 Dallas Carter Team Attend Screening of Documentary
11
The Dallas Morning News. Q&A With Former Carter High Star Football Player Jessie Armstead