The sentence determination phase ends for Tony Earls Jr., the man guilty of involuntary homicide guilty in the death by 2022 of Arlene Alvarez, 9 years old.
Earls was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday, the maximum sentence for the conviction.
The case, which was closely followed in Houston, focused on the question of whether Earls acted in a reckless manner when he fired in a van which, according to him, was linked to a flight.
On Wednesday, in court, Earls took a position where he described the night events that led to the deadly shooting. The Alvarez family left the courtroom during this period, saying they didn’t want to hear it speaks.
Videos of the flight and counts pulling on the blows he says that he thought he was in the thief, but instead, hit and killed Alvarez.
Earls said he couldn’t remember the night of flight and shooting because it was “scary and chaotic”. He also asked for forgiveness from the Alvarez family.
“I can’t go from me, I don’t ask them to forgive me for my actions,” said Earls.
When he was asked what he thought of taking the life of the 9 -year -old child, he said: “It kills me, I can’t sleep at night. I fought. “
TO SUMMARIZE: The jury judges Tony Earls guilty of manslaughter guilty in a death by Arlene Alvarez, 9 years old, 9
What happened
Earls told the police that he had just been stolen in an automatic counter and thought that the Alvarez family truck corresponded to the flight vehicle. The 9 -year -old man was rolling in the truck with his family when she was shot.
The defense argued that Earls had made a “factual error” and that he really believed that the truck contained the suspect of theft. They said that his actions were a traumatic response, not a criminal carefree. To support this, the defense called a psychologist and an expert in the reconstruction of the crime scene after the state deposited its case on Monday.
The prosecutors argued that the suspect had already fled the premises when Earls began to shoot. They argue that it doesn’t matter what Earls believed, shooting a moving vehicle in a public setting was an imprudent and dangerous act.
The jurors saw surveillance videos, photographs and other evidence during the trial. They also heard the testimonies of investigators, analysts and expert witnesses on both sides.
Arlene’s family was present in the courtroom on Tuesday during the verdict and closing arguments, while Earls seemed to shed a few tears after reading the verdict.
An accusation of guilty manslaughter generally has a punishment for two to 20 years in prison, but a jury can consider probation as a potential punishment in the case of Earls because it has no crime convictions.
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