SAN ANTONIO – A guilty verdict ended more than three hours of deliberations in the trial of Gregorio Barrera, 50, on Wednesday.
Barrera was found guilty of killing his brother Andres Barrera, 46, whose body was found late September 2016 buried in a shallow grave on the North Padre Island seashore.
Prosecutors told the jury that the pair argued often, sometimes violently, over ownership of a home in San Antonio they’d inherited from their parents.
After the body was found, police searched the home and found the blood of Andres splattered on the walls, ceiling and other areas. They recovered sneakers that belonged to the defendant that contained traces of beach sand.
During closing arguments, defense attorney Cornelius Cox insisted that the evidence prosecutors presented was circumstantial and not enough for a conviction.
“Why not bring you the proof and the evidence so you don’t have reasonable doubt?” Cox questioned.
Prosecutor Kim Gonzalez countered that point by telling the jury, “You have all the evidence to infer, yes, he killed his brother for a house that wasn’t his.”
A month before he was reported missing, the younger brother had the defendant legally evicted from the home.
The punishment phase of Barrera’s trial is set to begin Monday in Judge Jefferson Moore’s 186th District Court. He is facing a maximum sentence of life in prison.