Gary Green was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for the murder of a police officer. According to court documents Gary Green was driving a stolen vehicle when he was pulled over by Upton County deputy Billy “Bubba” Kennedy. When the Deputy approached the vehicle Gary Green would open fire, striking and killing the Officer. Gary Green would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
A Nueces County jury convicted a man in the 2013 fatal shooting of a West Texas sheriff’s deputy.
The jury found Gary David Green guilty of capital murder Monday in connection with the death of Upton County deputy Billy “Bubba” Kennedy, court records show.
Green, who is now facing the death penalty, was arrested in October 2013 after a shootout at a McCamey convenience store, according to the Associated Press.
The trial was moved from West Texas to South Texas because of a change of venue.
McCamey — which is in Upton County and has a population of around 2,000 people — is about 50 miles south of Odessa.
After weeks of jury selection, testimony began last week before visiting judge Tessa Herr. The jury returned a verdict in less than half an hour, according to a court official.
The trial’s punishment phase is expected to start Wednesday. In Texas, capital murder is punishable by either life in prison without parole or the death penalty.
According to a news article from the Odessa American, Green’s credit card was declined at the convenience store and he demanded free gas.
He was approached by Kennedy and another deputy, who ran a check on the truck’s license plate, the article states. The truck has been reported stolen. When Kennedy went up to the vehicle’s driver-side door, he unfastened his gun from its holster.
Green opened the door and fired at the deputy, the report states. Both officers reportedly returned fire, it states.
Last week, the clerk who worked that night described seeing Green’s vehicle parked outside store and said he came in and tried to buy some items and gas. But his card didn’t work and he tried to bribe her into giving him the items, she said.
The woman said she thought he was having a rough night and was just an upset customer when he mentioned that he didn’t want anyone to die.
He took some items she gave him through a store program and left behind a debit card with his name – Gary Green.
She said she later heard gunshots and saw Kennedy on the ground.
Gustavo Sandoval was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for the murder of a Border Patrol Agent. According to court documents the Border Patrol Agent Javier Vega was on vacation with his family when he was shot by Gustavo Sandoval. Sandoval would also shoot Javier Vega father who thankfully survived the shooting. After the shooting Gustavo Sandoval would flee with an accomplice Ismael Hernandez Vallejo who would later be sentenced to fifty years in prison for his role and Sandoval was sentenced to death.
A jury on Tuesday decided Gustavo Tijerina Sandoval deserves the death penalty for the 2014 murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
Tijerina Sandoval, 34, was convicted last week in the death of Javier Vega Jr., the border agent who was shot to death while fishing with family in a rural area near Harlingen.
On Aug. 3, 2014, Tijerina Sandoval and another man attempted to rob the Vega family at gunpoint, when Vega Jr., a veteran of the Marine Corps., pulled out his weapon. After a brief exchange of gunfire Vega Jr. was shot in the chest and died on the way to the hospital.
In addition to receiving the death penalty, Tijerina Sandoval was sentenced to life for attempted capital murder regarding the others in the Vega party. The Border Patrol agent’s father, Javier Vega Sr., was shot in the back during the firefight.
Vega’s widow, Andrea Brown Vega, and two of their three sons, as well as his mother and father, were all present and testified during Tijerina Sandoval’s trial, held in the courtroom of 197th state District Judge Migdalia Lopez.
Early in the proceedings, the judge issued a gag order prohibiting anyone connected to the trial from talking to the media. That order was still in place Tuesday, pending the formal handing down of the sentence.
Before the trial began and before the judge issued the gag order, the family declined comment but a Border Patrol union spokesman issued a statement.
“It is a very difficult time for the entire Vega family,” Chris Cabrera, a spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council, said Feb. 13 as jury selection started. “We, like the family, just want justice to be served.”
Vega’s father and mother, Marie Vega, mounted a lengthy fight to have their son’s death considered as having occurred in the line of duty, enlisting the help of several Texas congressmen and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. In September 2016, a U.S. Border Patrol committee determined that Vega died in the line of duty.
Late last year the South Texas immigration checkpoint in Sarita, where Vega was stationed, was renamed in his honor.
Brandon McCall was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for the murder of a police officer. According to court documents Brandon McCall would be in a standoff with police that would end with him shooting and killing Richardson Police Officer David Sherrard. Brandon McCall would also murder his roommate Rene Gamez whose shooting would provoke the hostage standoff. Brandon McCall would be arrested,, convicted and sentenced to death.
Brandon McCall, the man accused of fatally shooting Richardson police officer David Sherrard in February 2018 was found guilty of capital murder Wednesday afternoon.
After closing statements were made at about 10:45 a.m., the Collin County jury deliberated only a couple of hours before rendering their guilty verdict.
McCall, who pleaded not guilty on Monday, was accused of fatally shooting both Richardson police officer David Sherrard and Rene Gamez II, who he was staying with at the time, on Feb. 7, 2018. Lawyers for McCall acknowledged he shot Sherrard, but said it was unintentional.
McCall was charged with capital murder for Sherrard’s death and murder for Gamez’s death. He will be tried for the death of Gamez at a later date.
Investigators said McCall shot Gamez, 30, inside his apartment and then shot Sherrard twice as he responded to the “shots fired” call. Sherrard was shot twice in what a prosecutor described in court Tuesday as an ambush.
McCall was hospitalized after the incident and an officer who arrested McCall at his hospital bed wore a body camera. That footage was shown to the jury Tuesday
“You killed a cop tonight,” the officer was heard saying to McCall. Footage showed McCall deny it and say “No, nothing was wrong” and then cry. The officer testified in court Tuesday and told the jury that he believed it was all an act.
The prosecutor showed the jury Sherrard’s bloody uniform shirt and ballistic vest.
Sherrard’s family and friends who were sitting in court Tuesday were audibly upset, sniffling and gasping as the prosecutors showed the jurors the shirt Sherrard wore that day.
Investigators found three weapons (a rifle and two shotguns) inside the room where they believe McCall opened fire on police.
Sherrard did not fire his weapon during the incident, the investigator testified. Sherrard was shot with two rifle rounds: “center mass” or the center of his body, and at point-blank range.
Ricardo Gonzalez was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the murder of a security officer. According to court documents Ricardo Gonzales along with Leonardo Franqui, Pablo San Martin, and two other associates, robbed the Kislak National Bank in North Miami, Florida. During the robbery security officer Steven Bauer was shot and killed. Ricardo Gonzalez would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.
Fernandez and codefendants Leonardo Franqui, Ricardo Gonzalez, San Martin, and Abreu were charged with first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, armed robbery with a firearm, aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a firearm while engaged in a criminal offense, third-degree grand theft, and burglary.1 Fernandez was tried before a jury in May 1994.
On January 3, 1992, a cash box was stolen at gunpoint from a drive-in teller at the Kislak National Bank in North Miami. The perpetrators fled the scene in two stolen grey Chevrolet Caprice cars. During the robbery, two gunmen shot and killed North Miami police officer Steven Bauer. Shortly thereafter, the stolen vehicles were found abandoned two blocks from the bank.
The day after the murder, appellant was watching television at the home of Claudio Prado when a report of the North Miami bank robbery and murder was broadcast. Prado testified that appellant listened to the television report and then told Prado that he had been involved in the crime and wanted to see a Santeria priest known as a babalao. Prado testified that he took appellant that same day to see Lazaro Hernandez, who was a babalao, and that appellant asked Hernandez to perform a ritual to prevent appellant from being apprehended. Hernandez subsequently informed police as to appellant’s statements to him regarding the crime and shared a $100,000 reward with Prado.
Upon his arrest, appellant led police to the codefendants, who confessed that they had participated in the robbery and murder. Ballistics evidence showed that Gonzalez fired a .38 revolver, hitting the victim in the neck, and Franqui fired a .9 mm handgun. San Martin took the money tray, and Abreu drove a getaway car in which he waited a few blocks from the crime scene and then transported the perpetrators to his apartment.
Five months after the robbery and murder, inmate Luis Sanchez befriended appellant while both were in jail. Sanchez testified that appellant told him that a friend named Gary Cromer had described a bank robbery plan to him and that appellant had “stolen” the plan for his own use. Appellant told Sanchez that he obtained the guns used in the robbery, stole the getaway cars, drove the codefendants to the crime scene, witnessed the crime, facilitated the getaway, and shared in the proceeds of the robbery. Cromer testified that he and a friend had devised the bank robbery plan in 1991, and Cromer had later described the plan to appellant. Three or four weeks before the crime, appellant introduced Cromer to the codefendants. Cromer then went with appellant and the codefendants to the bank and showed them the usual routine of the bank tellers as they opened their stations for business. Cromer said he did not participate in the robbery or share in the proceeds.
Abreu pled guilty prior to trial and received a life sentence. The remaining defendants moved in pretrial motions to suppress their confessions and sever their trials based upon their allegedly inconsistent statements given to police. After hearings, the court denied all of the codefendants’ motions except for appellant’s motion to sever his trial. Pursuant to the court’s order, the confessions of the codefendants were not admitted at trial against appellant. The codefendants were tried together with two juries, designated “Jury A” to hear appellant’s case and “Jury B” to hear the cases of Franqui, Gonzalez, and San Martin.2 Jury A found appellant guilty of first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and both counts of grand theft and burglary.
During the penalty phase, the State relied on evidence presented during the guilt phase. The defense presented testimony of appellant’s mother, who testified that she once asked appellant to sell cocaine in order to raise money to post bond for appellant’s father, who was in jail on a drug charge. Appellant’s sister testified that she and appellant used illegal drugs at home and that their parents never tried to stop them. The defense also presented testimony of a prison chaplain who stated that appellant was remorseful and a psychologist who stated that appellant tested just below the low-average range of intelligence and that he had a personality disorder. Appellant testified that he tried to back out of the robbery on the morning of the crime but could not because Franqui threatened to shoot him and harm his family. The jury recommended a death sentence by a vote of seven to five.
A sentencing proceeding was held before the court, and additional testimony was presented. The defense presented a transcript of the statement that appellant made to police two weeks after the murder of Officer Bauer in which appellant stated that he participated in the crime under duress because of threats by Franqui. The State presented testimony of Hialeah police detective Albert Nabut, who interviewed appellant after an attempted robbery and murder near Hialeah. The detective stated that appellant told him he had informed Franqui and San Martin of the existence of a check-cashing business run by Danilo Cabanas and his son. Franqui, San Martin, and Abreu subsequently attempted to rob Cabanas at gunpoint after he left a bank with $25,000 accompanied by his son and Raul Lopez. During the attempted robbery, Lopez was killed by a bullet consistent with a .357 revolver used by Franqui.3
Jason Wheeler was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the murder of a police officer. According to court documents three police officers were responding to a 911 call when Jason Wheeler would open fire with a shotgun striking and killing Deputy Wayne Koester. Jason Wheeler would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.
An attorney for convicted cop killer Jason Wheeler asked the Florida Supreme Court this week to overturn his death sentence, arguing that the trial attorneys failed to raise two key points in his defense.
Mark Gruber, an attorney for the death-row inmate, focused on claims that trial attorneys could have proven Wheeler was acting on the influence of drugs during the February 2005 shooting and that the use of 54 photos of the victim, Lake Deputy Wayne Koester, during the last phase of the trial was excessive.
Wheeler, 37, was convicted of the first-degree murder of Koester, one of the deputies dispatched to Wheeler’s Paisley home for a domestic-violence complaint. Eventually, deputies tracked down Wheeler and shot and paralyzed him.
During a hearing in Tallahassee, Gruber argued that trial attorneys should have conducted testing of Wheeler’s bloody bandages from his gunshot wounds. Testing of the bandages conducted after his conviction showed evidence of methamphetamine, cocaine and opiates in his blood stream, according to court records.
In the months before Koester’s death, after losing his job and his home in the 2004 hurricanes, Wheeler deteriorated from drug addiction. “What you see is a spiral, a methamphetamine binge,” Gruber said.
Justice Charles T. Canady questioned whether such testing would have helped Wheeler because the testing can’t show the amount of drugs in his system and how much the drugs had influenced his actions.
“What it allows is virtually meaningless,” Canady said. “It tells you nothing but what is already known, that this is a gentleman who abused drugs.”
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Nunnelley argued there was plenty of trial testimony about Wheeler’s chronic methamphetamine and cocaine use.
“Nobody ever said the defendant was not using methamphetamine,” Nunnelley said. “Testing of those bandages for meth was cumulative. It adds nothing to the case except expenses.”
Gruber also questioned how jurors were affected by photos of Koester presented during the penalty phase showing him holding his babies, celebrating with his wife, as a National Guard member and as a youth coach. Such photos become part of death-penalty cases to show the impact of a victim’s death. However, Gruber argued that trial attorneys failed to object to the number of the photos and the extent of the victim-impact testimony. Nunnelley countered that the victim’s photos were not the deciding factor that led jurors to vote 10-2 for the death sentence.
“Those pictures didn’t earn him a death sentence. His actions on Feb. 9, 2005, earned him a death sentence,” Nunnelley said. “This is a case where death is undoubtedly the correct sentence.”
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