Jury sentences Estrada to life in prison
Web Posted: 03/04/2010 1:23 CST
By Craig Kapitan - San Antonio Express-News
VICTORIA — Jurors declined to sentence Joe Estrada Jr. to death on Wednesday, bringing to a close one of the most tragic and closely watched murder cases to have come out of San Antonio in recent years.
Instead, the jury chose the only other option for the capital murder convict: Life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The group took four hours to decide that Estrada would not be a future threat to society if sent to prison. Had jurors decided otherwise, they would have been required to determine if there was enough mitigating evidence for him to avoid execution.
Estrada, 20, showed little outward emotion as the sentence was announced. He listened quietly and emotionless as the son of popular Mexican restaurant owner Viola Barrios addressed him during an impassioned victim's impact statement. Tears began to flow, however, as the defendant was led out of the courtroom a final time.
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