TEXAS — The guy who was found guilty of killing El Paso Sheriff’s Deputy Peter Herrera during a traffic check in 2019 has been sentenced to death by a jury in El Paso. The 32-year-old defendant, Facundo Chavez, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by a jury that consisted of nine women and three men on Wednesday. The jury deliberated for close to ten hours spread out over two days. On August 3, 2019, the same jury that found Chavez guilty of first-degree murder in connection with the death of Herrera also found him guilty of capital murder of a peace officer.
The judge who was presiding over the case, Diane Navarrete, cautioned everyone present to avoid making any sudden movements or noises in the courtroom. During the reading of the judgement, the audience members did not make any noise. Chavez did not appear to react in any way to the decisions made by the jury. Bill Hicks, the District Attorney for El Paso, was present in the courtroom during the entirety of the trial, and he took his seat at the prosecutor’s table in order to observe the verdict.
Herrera was looking at the possibility of receiving the death penalty or being sentenced to life in jail without the option of ever being released. The court proceeding, which started on July 26, is being held at Criminal District Court 1, which is located in the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse, which is located in Downtown El Paso. During a traffic check that took place at approximately 1:50 a.m. on March 22, 2019, in the 1000 block of Chicken Ranch Road, located close to Socorro Road in San Elizario, Chavez is accused of viciously shooting and beating Herrera. Because Chavez and his girlfriend, Arlene Pia, had committed two traffic offences, Herrera decided to pull them over. The infractions were for illegally displaying a temporary license plate permit and failing to dim high-beam headlights, both of which are required by law.
Herrera yelled at Chavez to get out of the car and wait. After getting out of the automobile, he did not waste any time drawing his revolver and opened fire on Herrera. At a distance of less than an inch, Chavez fired around 15 bullets from the handgun at Herrera before the weapon jammed. Once Herrera was down, Chavez started pounding him with the gun. The pair ran away from the scene as Herrera lay dying in his own blood and surrounded by his own bloody wounds. Another person came at the scene and immediately began providing Herrera with first aid in an effort to staunch the bleeding. After that, Herrera was transferred to Del Sol Medical Centre for treatment. Two days later, Herrera passed away while being treated at the hospital.
On March 24, 2019, Peter Herrera, a deputy for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, passed away.
According to evidence, U.S. Border Patrol authorities later discovered Chavez and Pia hiding in a shed on the grounds of a nearby house. The shed was located on the land of another nearby house. The gruesome footage that were captured by Herrera’s body camera and the dashboard camera of the patrol vehicle, in addition to those captured by another deputy’s body camera, were played for the jury multiple times throughout the course of the trial.
