After nine hours of deliberation, a Tarrant County jury determined that mitigating factors warranted a sentence other than the death penalty for Gabriel Armandariz, who was convicted of killing his sons Luke, 6 months, and Gatlin, 2, in April 2011 in Graham, Texas. The trial was moved from Young County to Tarrant County. Armandariz was sentenced to Life in Prison Without the Possibility of Parole.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the jury selection process took six weeks, while the trial itself lasted three weeks.
Over the last five years, death-qualified juries have rejected the death penalty in at least 15 capital murder trials in Texas. Four of these rejections occurred in cases that were tried or originated in Bexar County. Last year, juries sentenced 10 people to death statewide and rejected the death penalty in two cases.
Read more about Armandariz case in the Graham Leader.