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A San Antonian on trial in the shooting death of a man who was shot in his South Side driveway in 2015 was convicted Wednesday of murder.
It took the Bexar County jury hearing the case of Dustin Lee Osborne, 22, about three hours to find him guilty of murder in the death of Ralph Michael Lopez, 34, who was shot six times Aug. 11, 2015, and later died.
Patrick Hancock, Osborne’s attorney, argued that Osborne was acting in self defense to protect himself and his uncle and co-defendant, Gabriel Aguilar, whom witnesses said told his nephew, “Shoot him” after Lopez punched Aguilar in the face while he sat in his pickup in front of Lopez’s home.
Aguilar, Osborne and Osborne’s then-wife, Sabrina Alcantar went to Lopez’s home in the 9200 block of Lytle Avenue to pick up Savannah Hardy and her cousin, Paige Gerber, after Hardy called them for a ride after a day of drinking and snorting methamphetamine, according to testimony.
Prosecutors disputed the defense’s self-defense argument, saying Osborne, an admitted drug dealer who had traded marijuana for the gun used to shoot Lopez, must have shot the victim while he was running because one of the bullets hit him on the sole of one of his feet.
Some of Osborne’s friends and relatives became emotional and left the courtroom after the verdict was read. Jurors then began hearing the punishment phase.
Testimony is expected to resume at 9 a.m. Thursday before Judge Jefferson Moore in the 186th state District Court.
ezavala@express-news.net
Twitter: @elizabeth2863
ezavala@express-news.net
Twitter: @elizabeth2863
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