A Conroe man will serve a two-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide in the 2013 death of Samuel Alexander.

Randy Noble Boyd, 59, had been charged with murder for beating Alexander to death at the victim’s home on Peach Creek Drive in Conroe.

The original autopsy performed at the Montgomery County Forensic Center ruled Alexander’s death a homicide due to subdural hematoma, or a collection of blood outside the brain usually caused by head injuries, according court documents.

However, Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Jim Prewitt said there were issues raised on the exact cause of death after further discovery of medical records showed Alexander suffered from pneumonia and chronic liver disease.

Boyd agreed last week to a guilty plea on the lesser state felony charge and will serve two years in prison after facing a possible life sentence for murder.

The trial had been set for this week.

“There was an issue on cause of death, so we reached that agreement to pursue the criminally negligent homicide plea instead of murder,” Prewitt said. “Essentially, there was some additional medical evidence obtained from the hospital that indicated one of the contributing factors was the pneumonia and cirrhosis of the liver – several different medical problems that he was undergoing that contributed to his death, in addition to being struck multiple times by the defendant.”

Boyd’s defense attorney Wendy Baker said her client’s actions could have indirectly led to Alexander’s death, but that Alexander was already in fragile health condition.

“It was only a result of his prior existing condition that caused his death,” Baker said. “So it wasn’t an intentional homicide. There were several intervening health causes that led to his death that had nothing to do with what Randy Boyd did.

“It’s our position that Randy Boyd did not kill (Alexander) but did take some action that was contributory to his death.”

The arrest warrant affidavit states Boyd had been living at Alexander’s residence for about two weeks before the incident. Boyd and Alexander drank heavily Oct. 12, 2013, when a Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputy reported witnessing Boyd strike Alexander on the left side of his face with an open hand.

Despite both men being intoxicated that evening, prosecutors learned the dispute stemmed from Boyd’s frustration with how much Alexander was drinking.

One witness who lived on the same property in a small home east of the residence reported seeing Boyd force Alexander to drink liquor from a shot glass. The witness told police Boyd hit Alexander several times in the face before law enforcement was contacted.

The deputy made entry into the home and detained Boyd, but observed Alexander bleeding from his left eye and a large swollen area on the left side of his face.

Boyd was taken into custody for assault and unlawful restraint, while Alexander was taken to Conroe Regional Medical Center.

While at the hospital, Alexander lapsed into a comatose state and was placed on life support. He eventually died Oct. 26, 2013, while in hospice care.

Boyd previously received an 18-month federal prison sentence for marijuana possession in 2009 and was convicted of possession of a controlled substance in Harris County in 2008 and felony DWI in 1995.

Boyd also was convicted of family violence assault in Montgomery County in 2000.