A jury has delivered a verdict of not guilty for a San Antonio man accused in the shooting death of a 3-year-old boy in November 2017.
Eric Treviño was on trial for capital murder after he was charged with fatally shooting Rene Blancas Jr. as he sat near his family inside a vehicle. Blancas died days before his fourth birthday.
Recommended Videos
Treviño was found not guilty on Wednesday, a week after the trial began.
Police initially said that Treviño fired into the vehicle that Blancas and another child were traveling in with their parents.
At the time of his arrest, Treviño had five felony warrants that were unrelated to the shooting and has since added more felonies on his record. In 2018, he and two other prisoners escaped the Bexar County jail but were caught soon after.
During opening statements, prosecutor David Martin said that Blancas’ parents identified Treviño out of a photo lineup. Detectives were also able to match him to the vehicle that was at the scene, Martin said.
“The day after a press release went out to the news, this defendant brought this car back and tried to return it,” Martin said.
As for the defense, his attorneys said Treviño was innocent.
According to defense attorney Mark McKay, the area where the shooting happened was poorly lit and would have been impossible for anybody to see who was driving the suspect vehicle.
“What’s really important is the intersection is completely pitch black, there’s no lights anywhere around them,” McKay said.
The defense also pointed out Treviño’s Cadillac tattoos and said because of his love for that make of vehicle, he would never have been driving a Honda like the suspect vehicle.