SAN ANTONIO – Update (June 26, 5 p.m.):
A Bexar County jury sentenced Miguel Garcia Gonzalez to 21 years in prison for killing a 67-year-old man with a shovel in 2021.
Gonzalez could have faced a maximum punishment of life in prison.
Update (June 23, 4 p.m.):
A Bexar County jury has found Miguel Garcia Gonzalez guilty of the murder of 67-year-old Frank Hammonds.
Jurors deliberated for nearly two hours on Friday before deciding a verdict.
The charge stems from an argument between Gonzalez and Hammonds that led to the deadly incident on June 13, 2021.
Gonzalez reportedly attacked Hammonds with a shovel and struck him multiple times.
Hammonds was found with injuries to his head and upper torso from the shovel attack. He died at the scene.
The punishment phase for Gonzalez will take place on Monday. He’s facing up to life in prison.
Original:
An eyewitness to a deadly shovel attack took the stand on the first day of a murder trial.
Miguel Garcia Gonzalez is on trial for the June 2021 slaying of 67-year-old Frank Hammonds.
In opening statements, the prosecution told the jury that Hammonds never saw his attack coming.
“The defendant grabs the shovel and hits Frank once really hard on the side of the head, and Frank goes down,” prosecutor Neal Cordero said. “Unfortunately, this isn’t the end of the beating that Frank is going to endure.”'
Gonzalez, at the time, was a ranch hand on the property Hammonds was living at in southern Bexar County.
His defense attorney told the jury that Gonzalez was being taunted by Hammonds and that the attack was in self-defense.
“Hitting someone and beating someone while defending yourself isn’t murder,” defense attorney Alfonso Cabanas said.
The only person to see the crime happen, Estella Cantu, took the stand to tell her version of what happened.
She said she was dropping off the property owner when she saw her friend Hammonds and went to talk to him.
As they were talking, she said she could see Gonzalez get off a horse, grab a shovel and walk toward Hammonds.
“He just comes and he says something to Frank, and Frank looks up and he just swings, just swings his shovel at him and hits him in the head,” Cantu said. “He hit him over and over.”
Cantu said she begin to scream and even threw a water cooler at Gonzalez to stop. She said Hammonds kept yelling at her to run, and she did to a nearby gas station to call 911.
In her testimony, Cantu also told the jury that at no time did Hammonds ever threaten Gonzalez.
Testimony continues in the 437th District Court with presiding Judge Joel Perez on Thursday.
If found guilty, Gonzalez faces up to life in prison.
Related:
Man indicted for fatally striking senior with shovel in south Bexar County