Jury finds San Antonio man guilty of capital murder

SAN ANTONIO – After four hours of deliberations, a jury has come back with a guilty verdict in the capital murder trial of Jimmy Tran.

Tran has been on trial for seven days for the 2019 robbery and murder of 22-year-old Andres Salinas behind a Northeast Side Wingstop.

During closing arguments, the defense said the state had no case and didn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Tran was guilty.

“There is no direct evidence that Jimmy is the shooter,” defense attorney Joseph Hoelscher said.

The defense further stated that codefendant Sebastian Espinar’s testimony was all a lie and even suggested he might have been working with Salinas to steal Tran’s money.

The state fired back saying the text messages in Tran’s phone not only showed he committed robbery but also that he shot somebody.

The jury was also able to consider the lesser charge of murder or manslaughter if they couldn’t agree on capital murder.

Tran has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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• ‘I never intended to harm him’: Co-defendant testifies against man on trial for capital murder
• Witness details deadly shooting during testimony but can’t identify the killer
• Two different versions of deadly 2019 shooting presented during day one of capital murder trial