WACO, Texas (KWTX) - Waco's 10th Court of Appeals has upheld the capital murder conviction and life prison term for a Dallas man who robbed and killed his landlord who had served an eviction notice on him in 2022.

In a 17-page opinion written by Chief Justice Matt Johnson, the three-judge intermediate appellate court overruled James Kelan Willis' four points of appeal to affirm his conviction in the death of 59-year-od Stanley Wilcox after an April 2025 trial in 19th State District Court.

James Keylan Willis (left) and Stanley Wilcox (right)(KWTX GRAPHIC with Photos Courtesy Tommy Witherspoon)Because prosecutors Ryan Calvert and Vanessa Fuentes chose not to seek the death penalty in the case, Willis was sentenced to an automatic life prison term with no possibility for parole.