SAN ANTONIO – The wife of Dustin Osborne asked the jury for mercy during the punishment phase of Osborne’s murder trial on Thursday.
“I hope y’all are merciful to him,” Destiny Lujan, 22, told the jury.
On Wednesday, the jury found Osborne, 22, guilty of murder in the shooting death of Ralph Michael Lopez on the night of Aug. 11, 2014.
Lopez was shot to death during a confrontation with Osborne’s uncle who, along with Osborne, had gone to Lopez’s Southside home to pick up a friend from a party.
Osborne testified that he shot Lopez in self-defense after Lopez began punching his uncle.
Lujan said Osborne was from a broken home and had a rough life.
“All his life, he had no one to take care of him,” she testified. “The streets raised him.”
After asking for mercy, Lujan made a request.
“I understand he’s going to go to prison,” she said. “But just please, don’t make it all his life.”
Prosecutors told the jury that Osborne, a drug dealer, has an extensive criminal record that includes weapons violations.
Pointing to an array of weapons, prosecutor Lauren Scott said, “This weapon and this ammunition and these magazines were found in the apartment where Dustin was arrested on the murder warrant.”
Closing arguments and jury deliberations are set for Friday morning in Judge Jefferson Moore’s 186th District Court.
Osborne is facing a punishment range of from 5 to 99 years to life in prison.