Jury rejects self-defense claim in bar shooting, finds man guilty of murder

Miguel Moreno shot to death on patio of Southwest Side bar

SAN ANTONIO – It took the jury a scant two hours Friday to find Daniel Salazar, 46, guilty of murder in a shooting outside a Southwest Side bar.

Salazar shot Miguel Moreno to death and seriously wounded Jesse Hernandez on the night of June 2, 2016.

“It is self-defense. It is not guilty. Ballgame over,” Salazar’s lawyer, Cleo Marshall, told the jury during closing arguments.

The defense attorney said Salazar feared for his life as he was approached by several men on the outdoor patio of the bar in the 7000 block of Old Pearsall Road.

The confrontation, prosecutors said, was an extension of an argument a few days earlier.

“They posed a collective threat to Daniel, and the law says he didn’t have to wait for Jesse to run off and become armed, get a weapon and come back,” defense attorney Rachel Moreau-Davila argued.

Prosecutors scoffed at the suggestion that the shooting was self-defense, and they said it was more than just murder.

“It’s not self-defense, it’s murder,” prosecutor Alfred Ramirez told the jury. “It’s an execution.”

By the verdict, the jury apparently agreed.


About the Author:

Paul Venema is a courthouse reporter for KSAT with more than 25 years experience in the role.