Prosecutors said the September stabbing was the third alleged attack on the same woman in three months.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Prosecutors say a violent summer that began with punches and threats ended in a parking-lot stabbing, and a Shelby County jury has now convicted Deandre Wilkins of aggravated assault in the attack on his pregnant ex-girlfriend.
The case matters because it was built around repetition as much as the final assault. Court reporting described three alleged attacks between July and September 2024, a later indictment in early 2025 and a March 2026 trial that left Wilkins convicted on one felony count and awaiting sentencing. The woman survived the stabbing, but the case drew unusual attention because prosecutors said she was carrying Wilkins’ child when she was attacked.
The first episode in the timeline came July 24, 2024. Prosecutors said Wilkins punched the woman in the face three or four times and took her purse. Reporting on the case said she did not immediately tell police about that confrontation. The delay mattered later because investigators learned of the July episode while looking into newer allegations. On its own, that earlier report might have looked like a closed argument after a breakup. In hindsight, prosecutors used it to show the opening point in a series they said kept growing more dangerous over the summer months.
The second episode, according to police records described in later coverage, happened Aug. 5 inside the woman’s apartment. Authorities said Wilkins held her and her four children inside, punched her in the mouth and threatened to kill her if she tried to leave. He also allegedly grabbed a kettlebell and threatened to smash her face if she attempted to get out. Police arrested him on aggravated assault, domestic violence and four counts of false imprisonment, and investigators added robbery and domestic violence allegations tied to the July report. But the case did not stop there. Reporting said Wilkins posted a $60,000 bond after that arrest, putting him back out before the September attack that would later define the case.
By Sept. 20, 2024, the allegations had moved into a public setting. Memphis police said officers responded about 8:40 p.m. to a parking lot in the 1500 block of Havana Street. The woman told detectives she had been walking with friends when Wilkins approached, punched her in the face and then repeatedly stabbed her with a kitchen knife. Police said he told her, “I told you I was going to get you,” as he attacked. Paramedics took her to a hospital with multiple stab wounds. She survived and later identified him in a photo lineup. Investigators said the couple had dated for about a year before breaking up a few months earlier and that she was pregnant with his child.
The legal case that followed did not stay in its original form. Wilkins was first arrested on attempted murder and domestic assault charges after the stabbing. A Shelby County grand jury later indicted him on aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping counts on Jan. 30, 2025, according to local reporting. When the case reached a jury in March 2026, the result was mixed: guilty on aggravated assault, not guilty on kidnapping. That outcome narrowed the conviction without erasing the larger story prosecutors had told about the summer timeline. Public reports reviewed here did not include a full explanation from jurors, and they did not provide a complete public trial transcript, leaving some evidentiary details outside public view.
Wilkins’ background and custody status also became part of the story. Reporting said a judge had issued a bench warrant on Aug. 20, 2024, after he failed to appear in another case. After the September stabbing, he was arrested and remained in the Shelby County Jail. Prosecutors said he had prior convictions for aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, aggravated robbery and burglary, and Tennessee correction records cited in coverage said he was on probation. Those details helped explain why the prosecution portrayed the case as both a domestic violence prosecution and a test of what happens when earlier cases, bond decisions and supervision all sit in the background of a later, more serious allegation.
What remains now is the sentence. Wilkins, now 36 in the later reporting, is scheduled for sentencing May 1 and faces a 15-year term on the aggravated assault conviction.
Author note: Last updated April 19, 2026.