BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – A man with an extensive criminal history was sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday in connection with a 2024 murder on the far North Side.
Franco Xavier Summers, 34, took a plea deal as his trial was set to begin inside Bexar County’s 226th Criminal District Court.
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Prosecutors initially offered Summers the plea deal last week when Judge Benjamin Robertson, who typically presides over the court, rejected the agreement.
Visiting Judge Jefferson Moore, who presided over the 226th Court Tuesday, accepted the plea deal.
2024 shooting outside Taco Palenque
On Nov. 9, 2024, San Antonio police said Summers fatally shot Christopher Fuentes, 43, outside a Taco Palenque restaurant in the 18000 block of Blanco Road.
Fuentes, who was later identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, was shot multiple times. His death was ruled a homicide.
Fuentes was also identified as the father of Summers’ girlfriend, SAPD said.
Before the murder, investigators said Summers and Fuentes had argued over a bar tab.
The argument continued as the pair left the bar with Summers becoming “very irate” and telling Fuentes and his daughter that he “had a gun,” authorities said.
As Fuentes and his daughter walked away, Summers drove up next to them. Video footage obtained by investigators showed the encounter with Fuentes appearing to reach through the driver’s door window and grab Summers’ arm.
After a brief struggle, investigators said Fuentes was shot multiple times. Summers then drove away at a high rate of speed.
Criminal history
Summers was previously named in connection with a 2013 murder charge and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge that was dismissed, court records show.
At the time, Summers claimed the shooting, which killed 17-year-old Roger Rodriguez Jr., was done in self-defense. The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office dropped the case, citing a lack of sufficient evidence needed to prosecute a murder charge.
In 2019, according to SAPD, Summers threatened his family with a gun, which prompted an hourslong standoff at a North Side apartment complex.
Summers attempted to flee by jumping out of a window in the apartment, but he was later taken into custody by police.
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