The defendant was acquitted of a kidnapping charge and is scheduled to be sentenced May 1.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Tennessee jury has convicted a Memphis man of aggravated assault in the 2024 stabbing of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, a case prosecutors said marked the third alleged attack on the same woman in about three months.

The verdict matters now because it closes the trial phase of a case that moved from attempted murder allegations to a narrower conviction carrying a 15-year prison term, according to later reporting on the prosecution. The case also drew attention because prosecutors said the September stabbing came after earlier alleged attacks in July and August and while the defendant was already under criminal justice supervision.

Police said the September attack happened about 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 20, 2024, in a parking lot in the 1500 block of Havana Street on Memphis’ south side. Officers and paramedics found the woman with multiple stab wounds and took her to a hospital. Investigators said she had been walking with friends when Deandre Wilkins approached her, punched her in the face and then pulled out a kitchen knife. During the assault, police said, he told her, “I told you I was going to get you.” The woman survived and later identified Wilkins in a photo lineup, according to a criminal complaint. Prosecutors said she was pregnant with his child at the time.

By the time jurors heard the case, prosecutors were presenting more than a single-night attack. They said the stabbing followed two earlier episodes during the same summer. In one, dated July 24, 2024, Wilkins allegedly punched the woman in the face three or four times and stole her purse. Reporting on the case said she did not immediately report that incident. In a second episode on Aug. 5, prosecutors said he held the woman and her four children inside their apartment, punched her in the mouth and threatened to kill her if she tried to leave. Authorities said he also picked up a kettlebell and threatened to smash her face if she tried to get out. Those allegations helped frame the September stabbing as part of an escalating pattern rather than an isolated confrontation.

The court path changed over time. 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 instead. At trial in late March 2026, jurors convicted him of aggravated assault but acquitted him of kidnapping. That split verdict narrowed the legal result while still leaving him exposed to a lengthy prison sentence. Public reports did not detail every reason jurors rejected the kidnapping count, and the full trial record was not publicly available in the materials reviewed here. What was clear from those reports was that prosecutors treated the woman’s identification, the scene evidence and the broader summer timeline as central parts of their case.

The prosecution also emphasized Wilkins’ status before the stabbing. Reporting said he paid a $60,000 bond after the August case, but a judge later issued a bench warrant on Aug. 20, 2024, after he failed to appear for a court date in another matter. After the September stabbing, he was arrested again and remained in the Shelby County Jail. Prosecutors also cited prior convictions for aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, aggravated robbery and burglary. Tennessee correction records cited in later coverage said he was on probation. That history became part of the case’s broader significance because it raised the stakes of sentencing and added to prosecutors’ argument that the September attack was not a first encounter with the criminal system.

The scene itself was brief and public. The woman was with friends in a parking lot when Wilkins allegedly appeared, and police said the violence unfolded quickly. The quote attributed to him during the stabbing became one of the case’s defining details because it suggested retaliation after the couple’s breakup months earlier. The two had dated for about a year before separating, according to reporting cited by investigators. Court coverage did not identify the woman by name, and there was no public indication in the reviewed materials that officials had released updated information about her pregnancy or her longer-term recovery. The case returned to public view in March 2026 when the guilty verdict was announced, shifting attention from the attack itself to the punishment still to come.

The case now stands at sentencing, with Wilkins scheduled to appear May 1, when the court is expected to impose punishment on the aggravated assault conviction and formally close the trial chapter.

Author note: Last updated April 19, 2026.