OTIS MCKANE

In 2016, SAPD Detective Benjamin Marconi was shot and killed outside of the Public Safety Headquarters downtown on a Sunday afternoon. After a 30-hour manhunt and dramatic trial, his killer is now on death row.

From the Otis McKane death penalty trial to the retirement of Paul Venema, 2021 was a memorable one.

A thank you to viewers who tuned in daily to KSAT's coverage of the Otis McKane trial.

The Otis McKane trial has come to an end with the jury sentencing him to the death penalty.

A jury has sentenced a man convicted of killing a San Antonio Police detective to the death penalty.

Jurors in the Otis McKane capital murder trial are expected to begin deliberating his fate Friday.

Attorneys for the state and the defense on Wednesday presented character witnesses who delivered emotional and tearful testimony in the punishment phase of the Otis McKane trial.

As COVID-19 infections surge in Bexar County, the judge who oversees how the courthouse runs has suspended jury services.

The ex-girlfriend of a man convicted of killing a San Antonio police detective was cross-examined on the witness stand Tuesday by the defense in an apparent effort to show that she may have prevented the defendant from visiting with their son.

A man convicted of killing a San Antonio police detective was described in court Monday as a bad father, an abusive boyfriend and a drug dealer.

There were many memorable moments during the 11-day guilty/innocent phase of the Otis McKane capital murder trial.

A man convicted of killing a San Antonio police detective documented the aftermath of the fatal shooting on his cellphone, according to evidence the prosecution presented Wednesday.

The Bexar County sheriff’s deputy who was attacked in court by a man who had just been found guilty of killing a San Antonio police officer testified Tuesday in the punishment phase of the defendant’s capital murder trial.

A Texas man elbowed a bailiff who was attempting to handcuff him after the man was convicted of killing a San Antonio police detective. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty against McKane, with the trial's punishment phase set to begin Tuesday afternoon. A bailiff was trying handcuff McKane when McKane elbowed him in the face before several officers pushed him into an adjacent room.

After less than an hour of deliberations, a Bexar County jury on Monday found Otis McKane guilty of capital murder.

The state rested its case Friday afternoon in the capital murder trial of Otis McKane, who is charged with the November 2016 fatal shooting of SAPD Det. Benjamin Marconi

The jury in the capital murder trial of Otis McKane sees perhaps the most damaging testimony in the case when they viewed the police interrogation video in which the defendant admitted to the slaying of San Antonio Police Det. Benjamin Marconi.

An image analyst for NASA testified Tuesday how his team at the Johnson Space Center used the same technology and techniques to investigate the Space Shuttle Columbia explosion in 2003 as that of the execution-style shooting death of a San Antonio police detective.

Surveillance video from a local hotel was used Monday by prosecutors in an effort to show the possible whereabouts of Otis McKane hours after the shooting death of SAPD Detective Benjamin Marconi.

Jurors in the capital murder trial of Otis McKane were shown a video Friday of the defendant getting a marriage license the day after he’s accused of shooting and killing San Antonio Police Detective Benjamin Marconi.

When San Antonio Police Officer Frances Ochoa heard “officer down” on her police radio the morning of Nov. 20, 2016, she got into her patrol car and drove from the Central Substation to nearby Public Safety Headquarters as fast as she could, she testified in day four of the trial of Otis McKane on Thursday.

A mother and her daughter testified in court Wednesday about seeing a gunman shoot and kill San Antonio police Detective Benjamin Marconi while he was sitting in his patrol car.

A man recalled to a jury the moments he heard gunshots and finding San Antonio Police Detective Benjamin Marconi slain in his patrol car.

Security footage captured in front of Public Safety Headquarters where a San Antonio police officer was shot and killed in his patrol unit shows the suspect accused of killing him at the scene of the crime, prosecutors said.

The jury in the Otis McKane capital trial is now deliberating his punishment for the slaying of San Antonio Police Det. Benjamin Marconi.

Airing Saturday, July 10, a KSAT 12 Special “Open Court: The Otis McKane and Genene Jones Cases” details two gut-wrenching crime stories that have gripped South Texas.

Five years after SAPD Det. Benjamin Marconi’s slaying, Otis McKane will stand trial for capital murder beginning July 12.

KSAT 12 looks back over the events of the past five years leading up to the trial of Otis McKane.

This week, the first in-person jury trial is expected to take place since early 2020.

Otis McKane set to stand trial in death penalty case on July 12.

SAN ANTONIO – After a four-month delay, individual questioning of prospective jurors resumed in the capital murder trial of a man charged in the slaying of a San Antonio Police Department detective. Jury selection in the trial of Otis McKane was put on hold in December as the number of COVID-19 cases in Bexar County began to soar. The questioning is being conducted in the huge Central Jury Room of the Justice Center amid strict COVID-19 protocols, with social distancing and the wearing of masks enforced. “That definitely has changed things,” defense attorney Joel Perez said of how COVID-19 protocols are affecting jury selection. AdSince over four years have passed since the slaying, Perez said finding jurors may be slightly easier.

When Bexar County District Courts reopen for trials there are five high-profile cases that might be in the docket for 2021. SAN ANTONIO – As Texas has “opened 100%”, the Bexar County courts remain closed to in-person and jury trials. These trials will take place in the 227th District Court by Judge Kevin O’Connell. AdWhen this retrial takes place it will be in the 144th District Court with Judge Michael Mery. When this trial is set it will take place in the 399th District Court with Judge Frank Castro presiding.

SAN ANTONIO – Jury selection will resume Monday in the capital murder trial of a man accused in the execution-style slaying of a San Antonio Police Department detective in 2016. It has been four and a half year years since veteran San Antonio Police Department Detective Benjamin Marconi was shot in the head at point blank range as he sat in his patrol car outside police headquarters. Jury selection in the capital murder trial of 35-year-old Otis McKane, Marconi’s accused killer, began last fall. AdStill, Rangel, who will preside over the trial, said he isn’t considering a change of venue. The Backstory: Otis McKane on trial for execution-style killing of SAPD Detective Benjamin Marconi

SAN ANTONIO – The state of Texas executed three convicted killers and juries across the state handed down just two death sentences in 2020. In Bexar County, where the capital murder trial of accused cop killer Otis McKane is on hold due to COVID-19 concerns, there have been only two death sentences imposed since 2009. ”I think Bexar County is really emplematic of this shift, both in terms of jury rejections of the death penalty and prosecutors who are moving the county away from it,” said Kristin Cuellar, of the Texas Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Though Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales is seeking the death penalty for McKane, he has said that the death penalty should be sought only for “the worst of the worst.””Joe Gonzales is part of the wave of what we consider reform-oriented prosecutors who have pledged to be more limited in their use of the death penalty,” Cuellar said. Though COVID-19 concerns are part of the reason for the low number of Texas executions in 2020, Cuellar said that “the use of the death penalty has declined significantly over the last two decades.”Cuellar added that when the Texas Legislature convenes next week lawmakers will have two death penalty abolition bills to consider.

SAN ANTONIO – The jury selection process had qualified eight jurors in the capital murder trial of Otis McKane when it was temporarily suspended Friday by Bexar County District Judge Ron Rangel. The judge cited concerns over the growing number of positive COVID-19 cases in Bexar County as reason for halting the proceedings. “You could see that concern developing among the jury panel as we were bringing them in,” Fuchs said. The state is seeking the death penalty for McKane, 31, who is accused of fatally shooting veteran San Antonio Police Department Detective Ben Marconi. ”What he wants ultimately, in our case, is that the justice system and the jury decide our client’s fate.

SAN ANTONIO – Friday marks four years since San Antonio Police Department Det. Benjamin Marconi was shot and killed in the line of duty. Marconi, a 20-year veteran with SAPD, was shot and killed Nov. 20, 2016 while writing a ticket in his patrol car outside Public Safety Headquarters downtown. And today we remember Detective Marconi,” said SAPD chief William McManus just last year. The trial was supposed to take place earlier this year, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

SAN ANTONIO – Jury selection resumed today in the capital murder trial of Otis McKane, the man accused of shooting San Antonio Police Department Detective Ben Marconi at point-blank range. Jurors are being interviewed based on a questionnaire they completed in March before a moratorium on jury duty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Backstory: Otis McKane on trial for execution-style killing of SAPD Detective Benjamin MarconiJudge Ron Rangel of the 379th District Court, who will be presiding over the trial, says each juror gets questioned extensively regarding any potential bias or prejudices they may have. Both sides have requested the opportunity to add additional questions to this questionnaire because of the social unrest that’s been going on in the community this year. Rangel says he will accommodate.

SAN ANTONIO – When jury selection resumes Monday in the capital murder trial of Otis McKane, individual jurors will be interviewed based on a questionnaire they completed in March prior to a moratorium on jury duty ordered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “When you’re dealing with a death penalty case each individual juror gets questioned extensively regarding any potential bias or prejudices they may have,” said 379th District Judge Ron Rangel, who will be presiding over the trial. Jury selection will go slower than normal due to COVID-19 protocols, he said. “We’ve got to clean the entire courtroom between every juror, and that’s going to take time”, Rangel said. He predicted that jury selection will likely go well into January.

SAN ANTONIO – Jurors will be given a questionnaire addressing social issues raised during police reform demonstrations in the trial of a man charged with killing a San Antonio police officer. Rangel said the questionnaire will address social issues raised during demonstrations this summer in San Antonio and across the country. McKane, who is Black, is accused of slaying San Antonio Police Department Detective Ben Marconi, who was white. Rangel said the questionnaire will also include questions about bias and prejudice. Both the prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed that the supplemental questionnaire was necessary.

Court debrief: What to expect on the 2020 docketPublished: January 3, 2020, 9:31 amCases of accused Medical Center rapist Anton Harris, "baby killer" Genene Jones and accused cop killer Otis McKane are on trial dockets at the beginning of this year.