SAN ANTONIO – UPDATE:
The jury reached a verdict around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and found Ortiz guilty on one count of capital murder.
Deliberations began around 2:30 p.m. We will livestream the reading of the verdict in the courtroom.
PREVIOUSLY:
The trial of Juan David Ortiz, a former Border Patrol agent accused of murdering four women near Laredo in 2018, is being tried in Bexar County after a change of venue was granted.
KSAT 12 will be streaming the entire proceedings, from gavel to gavel, on KSAT.com, KSAT Plus and YouTube.
The trial resumes at 9 a.m. Wednesday when closing arguments will be delivered by the prosecution and defense followed by jury deliberations.
You can get caught up with what happened Tuesday in Day 7 of the trial here.
It was initially a death penalty case but the lead prosecutor on the case, Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz, recently took capital punishment off the table.
He said the victims’ families agreed to the change which would also shorten the trial from four weeks to about two weeks.
Ortiz’s alleged murder spree began in Sept. of 2018.
Melissa Ramirez, Claudia Anne Luera, Griselda Cantu and Jannelle Ortiz were all found dead with gunshot wounds within weeks of each other off I-35, north of Laredo.
Melissa Ramirez, Claudine Ann Luera, Humberto “Janelle” Ortiz and Guiselda Cantu were all killed in Webb Co. (Copyright 2022 by KSAT – All rights reserved.)
Learn more about this case by watching KSAT’s exclusive “Open Court: The Trial of Juan David Ortiz on KSAT.com, KSAT Plus or on KSAT’s YouTube channel.