Staff report

A Hays County Jury earlier this month sentenced a man to life in prison for a 2013 aggravated robbery of a Driftwood storeowner at gunpoint.

The jury learned during the trial’s punishment phase that Clifton Bryan Hennington, 37, of Austin, had been on a lengthy crime spree that stretched across the state.

On May 5, the jury found Hennington guilty of aggravated robbery of the Hays City Store in Driftwood on Oct. 10, 2013. 

According to a press release, Hennington robbed storeowner Steven Parker at gunpoint.

The jury learned during the trial punishment phase that Hennington had been sentenced to eight years in prison after he was convicted of five felony-aggravated robberies in 1999.

They also discovered that Hennington and his co-defendant, Nathaniel Jones, 31, attempted to commit seven robberies in Louisiana and Texas, and committed 27 robberies in Texas from July 2013 to January 2014, when they were arrested in Travis County.

Their robbery spree spread across 20 counties, including Travis, Hays, Caldwell, Bexar and Comal counties.

Eleven robbery victims testified against Hennington during the trial’s punishment phase.

The investigation into the Hays City Store robbery began when the Hays County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

Scene evidence enabled the Texas Rangers to link the robbery to others they had uncovered during their statewide investigation.