Jurors convicted Deandre Wilkins on one count and acquitted him on aggravated kidnapping.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Shelby County jury convicted Deandre Wilkins of aggravated assault but acquitted him of aggravated kidnapping in the prosecution over the stabbing of his pregnant ex-girlfriend in a Memphis parking lot.
That split result is the reason the case is back in focus. Wilkins was first booked after the September 2024 attack on attempted murder and domestic assault allegations, but the case that ultimately went to trial was narrower. By the time jurors ruled in March 2026, the central legal question was no longer whether every original accusation would stick. It was whether prosecutors had proved the later indicted felonies tied to the assault and the woman’s movement or confinement.
The prosecution’s core account rested on the night of Sept. 20, 2024. Police said officers were called about 8:40 p.m. to the 1500 block of Havana Street, where paramedics found the woman suffering from multiple stab wounds. According to a criminal complaint described in later reporting, she said she had been walking with friends when Wilkins came up to her, punched her in the face and then began stabbing her with a kitchen knife. Investigators said he told her, “I told you I was going to get you,” during the attack. She survived, went to a hospital and later picked Wilkins from a photo lineup. Authorities said the couple had dated for about a year, broken up months earlier and that she was pregnant with his child.
The kidnapping acquittal put more weight on the assault evidence and less on the broader charging theory. Publicly available reporting reviewed here did not include the trial transcript, so it did not spell out exactly which testimony or legal definitions persuaded jurors to reject that charge. What is clear is that the aggravated assault count stood on its own after the verdict. That matters because it turns the case from a broad, multi-count prosecution into a sentencing proceeding focused on one felony conviction, even though the surrounding facts remained severe and emotionally charged. Later reporting said Wilkins faces 15 years in prison when he is sentenced May 1.
Prosecutors also placed the September stabbing inside a larger timeline. They said Wilkins had allegedly attacked the same woman twice earlier in the summer. One reported incident on July 24 involved punches and the theft of her purse. Another on Aug. 5 involved allegations that he held her and her four children in an apartment, punched her in the mouth and threatened to kill her if she tried to leave. Police arrested him after that August case, and later reports said he posted a $60,000 bond. A judge also issued a bench warrant on Aug. 20, 2024, after he failed to appear in another matter, according to records cited in coverage. Prosecutors used those details to argue that the September stabbing was the culmination of a pattern.
His criminal background formed another layer of the case. Prosecutors said Wilkins had prior convictions for aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, aggravated robbery and burglary. Reporting citing Tennessee correction records said he was on probation. After the September stabbing, he was arrested and remained in the Shelby County Jail. In that sense, the March verdict did two things at once: it confirmed a serious felony conviction tied to the parking-lot attack while also leaving unresolved public questions about the route the case took from attempted murder allegations to a conviction on aggravated assault instead. Those questions may become clearer only if fuller court records emerge.
The case’s public details remain tightly centered on one short burst of violence in a public place. Friends were nearby. Paramedics arrived. The woman survived. And months later, after an indictment and a jury trial, the case ended not in a complete sweep for either side, but in a mixed verdict that still carries prison time.
Wilkins is now awaiting a May 1 sentencing hearing, the next formal step in a case that moved from sweeping allegations to a single standing felony conviction.
Author note: Last updated April 19, 2026.