A 21-year-old Houston man who was shot in the face during a home invasion that left the homeowner dead has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Tuesday.

“Innocent families should not have to live in terror that violent men will burst into their homes with guns demanding money and valuables,” Ogg said. “These men knew exactly what they were doing, and spending decades in prison is the consequence for those actions.”

Jonathan Vera pleaded guilty to one charge of murder in exchange for 30 years in prison for his role in the fatal shooting of 55-year-old Silvano Cortez. Because Vera was a juvenile when he committed the crime, he was not eligible for the death penalty or life without parole.

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A Houston man who fatally shot his fiancée just three days after proposing was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Thursday.

“This man was an abuser with a string of domestic violence crimes that continued to escalate until he killed a woman,” Ogg said. “Unfortunately, Dominic Jefferson lost her life because he lost his temper.”

Kendrick Akins, 42, was convicted of murder on Oct. 21 and when the verdict was read, the defendant passed out and had a seizure in the courtroom. The judge then postponed the punishment phase until this week. After a day of testimony, a Harris County jury sentenced Akins on Wednesday to life in prison. The jury also found that he was a true habitual offender because of earlier violent crimes.

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A Virginia man who killed his Houston girlfriend after finding out she was pregnant with twins was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted of capital murder this week, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Thursday.

“This poor woman opened the door to her home and thought she would be celebrating a new chapter in her life, but instead the man she loved brutally stabbed her to keep their relationship secret,” Ogg said. “This was a planned, premeditated and cold-blooded case of domestic violence.”

Marcus Levail Murphy, 36, who is in the U.S. Navy and wore his naval uniform throughout the weeklong trial, flew to Houston for three hours on Feb. 24, 2015. He drove from his home in Virginia to Charlotte, NC, then flew to Detroit and on to Houston. When he left Houston, he flew to Atlanta and then Charlotte to pick up his car, spending more than $1,000 on plane tickets in total.

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The man who gunned down a Baytown mother in a 2020 home invasion was sentenced to life in prison last week, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“This was a premeditated and planned attack on a family who should have been safe while they were asleep in their beds,” Ogg said. “This man pulled the trigger on a wife and mother in her own home, which merits a sentence of life in prison.”

Josue Lopez, 19, was sentenced automatically after being convicted of capital murder by a jury Friday following a week-long trial. The murder happened during the first of two random home invasions that he and several other people committed on Aug. 3, 2020.

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A Houston man was sentenced to 45 years in prison for shooting an 8-year-old in the knee during an argument in Houston’s Third Ward in 2019, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Thursday.

“This repeat offender shot an 8-year-old and then, while free on bond, was arrested for stealing catalytic converters from City of Houston vehicles,” Ogg said. “He has had enough second chances and he cannot be trusted to live by the rules in our society.”

Richard Spiller, 31, was facing a punishment range of 25 years to life in prison because of his criminal history. A jury found him guilty of aggravated assault causing bodily injury, and visiting state District Judge Jim Anderson sentenced him on Wednesday to 45 years in prison.

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A Houston man with five prior convictions for driving while intoxicated has been convicted of felony murder for killing another driver in a drunken driving crash in 2018, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Friday.

“This is a repeat offender who was on parole for driving drunk when he killed a husband and father of four,” Ogg said. “He was a one-man crime wave on wheels, and it was just a matter of time until he killed someone.”

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A jury sentenced Robert Solis to death Wednesday for murdering Harris County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, whom he shot during a 2019 traffic stop.

“The defendant executed a uniformed deputy by shooting him in in cold blood in broad daylight. That makes him the worst of the worst, which is why we asked jurors to sentence him to death,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said.

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