Candelaria Palacios raises a photograph of her husband, Saul Vargas, during a press conference in front of the Galveston County Jail in Galveston on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. Vargas, in inmate at the jail, died in custody Tuesday after a deputy deployed a Taser on him. STUART VILLANUEVA/The Daily News

A former Galveston County jailer accused of killing a man by kneeling on his neck for two minutes during a jailhouse struggle agreed last week to a plea deal that could keep him out of a jail cell

Skyler Ray Chapman, 28, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to a charge of criminally negligent homicide, according to Galveston County court records.

As a result of a plea deal, Chapman was placed on 10 years of deferred adjudication. The outcome, which is similar to probation, means that Chapman does not have to serve a prison sentence unless he violates the terms of his supervision.


Chapman had been scheduled to go to trial later this month. If he had been found guilty, he faced a sentence of up to two years in a state jail facility.

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Chapman last year was indicted and accused of killing 39-year-old Saul Vargas on Sept. 10, 2024. Before his death, Vargas was being held at the Galveston Island jail on charges of burglary and evading arrest. Shortly after his death, former Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset said Vargas was showing  behavioral issues  and deputies decided to move him to an isolation cell, where a struggle occurred.

Last year, a grand jury indicted Chapman on a criminally negligent homicide charge. The indictment accuses Chapman of killing Vargas by placing his leg or knee on Vargas' neck, but did not reveal any more details about the case.


More information was revealed last month, when Vargas' family sued Galveston County, Chapman and other sh

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