SAN ANTONIO – A Bexar County jury is expected to determine Contreras’ sentence during the court’s punishment, which began Friday morning.
Below is a timeline of Friday’s court proceedings. Refresh this story for updates.
10:13 a.m. – The prosecution said it planned on calling Elizabeth Contreras’ daughter to the stand during Friday’s punishment phase.
10:18 a.m. – The jury entered the courtroom.
10:19 a.m. – Judge Rangel asked the prosecution and the defense if either had any opening statements. Both sides declined.
10:20 a.m. – The prosecution called Elizabeth Contreras’ younger sister, Jennifer Sierra DeJesus, to the stand. DeJesus said she was two years younger than Elizabeth.
10:21 a.m. – DeJesus described her close relationship with her sister.
“She (Elizabeth) was everything to me. She was my best friend,” DeJesus told the court. “We did everything together. She spent so much time with my kids. There’s not a memory or a picture that doesn’t involve her.”
DeJesus said the last seven years since Elizabeth’s death have been the hardest of her life.
“A piece of me died, and I don’t think I’ll ever get it back,” DeJesus said.
10:26 a.m. – The prosecution asked DeJesus about Guadalupe Contreras, who she has known for at least 25 years.
“He’s a horrible person. There’s nothing good about him,” DeJesus said. “I can’t ever say that there’s been a time in my life that I’ve ever felt like he has been worthy of anything. I’m sorry. He’s not a good person.”
10:27 a.m. – DeJesus told the court she believes Guadalupe Contreras deserves a lifetime sentence in prison.
“There’s no amount of time that would be justice for my sister’s death, her memory,” DeJesus said. “For Emma’s life, who is now forever changed. Her (Elizabeth’s) daughter was only six years old. She will now grow up the rest of her life without her mother.”
10:32 a.m. – The prosecution called Elizabeth Contreras’ daughter to the stand. In cooperation with the court’s request, KSAT is not showing the minor’s picture.
10:33 a.m. – Elizabeth’s daughter said she remembered her mother as being “full of smiles and laughter, especially around her family.”
She also shared her favorite memory of her mother.
“My favorite memory with my mom was the last Easter that I spent with her in 2017,” Elizabeth’s daughter said. “We had food. My family cooked, and she was, just, smiling the whole time. She was full of laughter. She made jokes throughout the whole day. It was, just, a fun day in general to spend time with her.”
10:34 a.m. – Elizabeth’s daughter told the court that it has been “hard” not having her mother with her.
“She hasn’t been able to see me go to school and hear about the accomplishments that I make in school,” Elizabeth’s daughter told the court, in part. “I hope that she’s proud of me.”
10:36 a.m. – The prosecution rested its case. The defense called for a brief recess, which Judge Rangel granted.
10:56 a.m. – The brief recess is over. The jury returns to the courtroom. The defense calls Carmen Contreras, the youngest daughter of Guadalupe Contreras, to the stand.
10:58 a.m. – Carmen Contreras described her relationship with her father as “far from perfect” but called Guadalupe her “best friend.”
10:59 a.m. – Carmen recalled a memory of her father when she was a six-year-old cheerleader and her brother was a football player in a peewee league.
“I was so upset (be)cause my coach was sick, and I couldn’t cheer,” Carmen Contreras said. “And my dad decided to step in — pompoms and everything — just to make me smile to cheer. He decided to do every routine, if (sic) he knew it or not.”
11 a.m. – The defense asked Carmen Contreras what she would like the jury to know about her father.
“Despite everything — no matter what — he’s my best friend,” Carmen Contreras said. “I know everything, good or bad, he’s the one person I can turn to.”
11:04 a.m. – Carmen Contreras made a final plea to the jury.
“You might think he’s this person that could do something like this. If you actually got to know him (Guadalupe), you would change your mind completely,” Carmen Contreras said. “Honestly, if I ever, in a million years, thought this would happen generally to anyone in our family, never once would I have thought it would be my dad.
“I understand that the other family has been through a great deal, but whatever you sentence him today, you don’t just sentence him. You sentence the rest of our lives. For all our families.”
11:06 a.m. – Carmen also had a final message to her father.
“I love you, no matter what happens,” Carmen said to her father as she fought back tears. “I will be here.”
The defense rested its case and another break began. The jury exited the courtroom.
11:35 a.m. – After the break, the jury returned to the courtroom.
11:39 a.m. – Defense attorney Charles Bunk began closing arguments on behalf of his client.
11:48 a.m. – Bunk suggests to jurors that Guadalupe Contreras should be given a 30-year prison sentence.
“I don’t think that 30 years is an unreasonable number. It’s a long time,” Bunk said to the jury. “It’s a very, very long time. Think about half the size of that room (Bunk points in an unclear direction) for 30 years. Does it bring her (Elizabeth Contreras) back? No, of course, it doesn’t. Nothing you can do can bring her back, but does it punish him for that split-second thing that happened? Absolutely it does.”
Bunk and the defense rested its case.
11:49 a.m. – The prosecution, led by prosecutor Lauren Scott, presented the state’s closing arguments to the jury.
Scott referenced the defense’s plea to the jury for mercy in Contreras’ punishment phase.
“They (the defense) are asking you to show him today (sic) mercy and kindness when he doesn’t deserve anything that he didn’t give Elizabeth Contreras on Aug. 2, 2017,” Scott said.
11:52 a.m. – If Guadalupe Contreras is sentenced to life in prison, Scott reminded the jury that Contreras “gets to live.”
“Carmen (Contreras) told you: their relationship has remained the same, and it will,” Scott said on the possibility of a Contreras life sentence. “He’ll continue to have a relationship with Carmen and Guadalupe Jr. (Guadalupe’s son). He will get to have phone calls with them. He will get to write letters to his friends and his family members.
“He’ll get to eat all of the Fritos that he wants. Elizabeth Contreras will never have another phone call with Jennifer (her sister).”
Noon – Scott concluded the state’s closing arguments with a plea for the jury to sentence Guadalupe Contreras to life in prison.
12:01 p.m. – The judge allowed jurors to begin deliberations for Contreras’ sentencing. The jury exited the courtroom.
A Bexar County jury on Thursday found Guadalupe Contreras guilty of a murder charge and an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury charge in Contreras’ retrial.
Jurors began deliberating Contreras’ fate just after 11:15 a.m. Thursday. Nearly seven hours elapsed between the time the jury started deliberations and the time the verdict was read in court.
Rangel told the jury on Thursday that the punishment phase of Contreras’ retrial would begin at 9 a.m. Friday.
However, the punishment proceedings began just after 10 a.m.
KSAT is livestreaming the proceedings on all of its digital platforms, which includes this article.
Contreras faces a sentence of up to life in prison.
More coverage of Guadalupe Contreras’ retrial:
