Inset: Lyndell Demps (Ninth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office). Surveillance video captured the branch cutter attack in a Florida home.
A Florida man will spend the rest of his life in prison for attacking a family in their home with branch cutters seven months after being released from prison, where he had served more than two decades for attempted carjacking.
Lyndell Demps, 52, received his sentence on Monday after being convicted of home invasion robbery and assault and battery with a deadly weapon, according to prosecutors.
According to an arrest affidavit, the incident occurred on June 15, 2023, when Demps sneaked into the back patio of an Orlando home and repeatedly attacked the homeowner with a long-handled branch cutter.
Demps then entered the home through a shattered sliding glass door and demanded money from the victim, his wife, and mother-in-law, while swinging the gardening tool downward, according to court documents. The attack was captured on the home’s surveillance cameras.
When one of the victims attempted to call 911, Demps took his cellphone. According to the affidavit, he held the branch cutters over his head and approached the victims, cornering them in the living room.
When one of the victims attempted to enter her bedroom and close the door, Demps struck the door with the branch cutters, preventing it from closing. The attack ended when Demps entered a room and retrieved a jar of coins, allowing the victims to flee and scream for help, according to the document.
Demps fled the house through the patio with the victims’ cellphones, which he dumped nearby, as well as the coin jar, according to the affidavit.
The homeowner was admitted to the hospital with fractures to his skull and orbital socket, as well as cuts to his left hand that required surgery. He also lost a tooth, according to the affidavit.
Demps was arrested later that night for breaking into a day care, according to prosecutors. He told law enforcement from jail that he was high on drugs and needed money, prosecutors said in May when he was convicted.
According to the affidavit, Demps told cops that he was homeless and needed money. He also wrote a letter to the victim, apologizing for “any pain or stress that I may have caused to you and your family,” according to the affidavit.
Prosecutors claimed Demps has a lengthy criminal history. He was released from prison seven months before the branch cutter attack, having served nearly 26 years for an attempted carjacking in 1996. Prosecutors described him as a habitual felony offender, a habitual violent felony offender, and a prison release re-offender.
