SAN ANTONIO – A 44-year-old man who prosecutors said stole a car and then randomly ran down pedestrians, killing two and seriously injuring four, will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury found him guilty Thursday.
Jurors deliberated for a little over an hour before finding Manuel Garcia guilty of capital murder.
"He took that car and ran over those victims one after another after another after another," prosecutor Gretchen Flader said during closing arguments while clapping her hands as she counted the number of victims injured.
Flader told jurors that the rampage in February 2015 was clearly a case of capital murder.
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The jury had been given the option of considering lesser charges of murder or manslaughter.
Garcia's defense team, attorneys Joel Perez and Raymond Fuchs, argued that the lesser charges were more appropriate since they claimed the state did not prove that Garcia intended to kill anyone that night.
"If for any reason you believe that he was able to form intent, then it should be as to murder," Perez argued.
But prosecutor Mario Del Prado countered by saying, "Eight minutes of hell and terror on the East Side authored by this man."
Although it was a capital murder case, the state did not seek the death penalty.