James Beavers in his DPD mug shot.
James Justin Beavers is the 54-year-old bail bond business owner who is accused of hiring a hit man to kill his partner at their Deep Ellum office on Memorial Day. Beavers’ son, 23-year-old James Phillip Beavers, also has been charged in the killing.
The accused hit man is 44-year-old Shawn G. Lewis. The older Beavers told police he had agreed to pay Lewis $2,000.
All three men are charged with capital murder in the death of 53-year-old Mark Stephen Stockton.
Beavers lives in Duncanville, but he has been a regular performer in the Lakewood music scene. A guitar player, singer and songwriter, Beavers performed regularly at Lakewood Bar and Grill and the Balcony Club.
Beavers played the Balcony Club as recently as May 4.
Beavers in his Facebook profile picture.
In an essay posted on Facebook May 3, Beavers says he lost “material things, friends, a wife” due to alcohol abuse. In the essay, he mentions he’s been sober for over four years. And he recounts a conversation with a friend about how sobriety has affected him as a performer:
“I told him I was thinking about going back to playing music, but had the fear of playing in bars because I associated bars/music/drinking. And I had still a case of guilt for people that I felt would never accept me. He told me something almost sounded like it came out of a Batman movie. He said ‘never let your past define who you are, let your actions define you now.'”
