The murder trial of Adan Chavez Jr. is set to resume next week following a break since starting on April 28.
Chavez, 25, was indicted for the Oct. 2, 2022, shooting death of Jorge Gonzales, 23, court records show. Chavez is also accused of shooting Gonzales’ home in the 1400 block of North Eighth Street the day before the murder.
He was being held Friday in the Wichita County Jail on a $275,000 bond for the murder charge and a $25,000 bond for a charge of deadly conduct-discharge of firearm in connection with an Oct. 1, 2022, incident, online jail and court records show.
Murder is a first degree felony carrying a punishment of five to 99 years or life in prison if there is a conviction. The gun charge is a third degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison.
Anyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless convicted beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Gonzales, 23, was shot in the parking lot of a Dollar Saver convenience store in the 700 block of Central Freeway, court documents show.
Chavez had been arguing at a house earlier in the day with Gonzales, and his two brothers and witnesses heard Chavez say he was going to get a gun, according to allegations in a police investigator’s affidavit.
Later in the day witnesses at the scene told police Chavez took a rifle from the bed of a pickup and shot Gonzales multiple times, according to allegations in the affidavit. They told police Chavez forced the driver of the pickup to take him a short distance away and then fled on foot.
The Wichita Falls police SWAT team executed a warrant at a home in the 1100 block of Rowland Road on Oct. 22, 2022, and arrested Chavez without incident, a previous police media release stated.
Chavez was initially jailed in lieu of a $1 million bond, but the Second Court of Appeals ruled the amount was excessive and the figure was lowered to $275,000, according to court filings.
Despite the reduced bond, Wichita County Jail records show Chavez has remained behind bars on the murder charge and the deadly conduct-discharge firearm.
Federal records show he is also held without bond on a charge of transporting illegal aliens in the San Antonio area.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Testimony to resume in Chavez murder trial Tuesday
Reporting by Lynn Walker, Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
