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Guilty as Charged
Gary Reaves reports
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DALLAS - A Dallas County jury found Ernesto Reyes guilty of capital murder Friday in the death of a University of North Texas sophomore.
Reyes, 21, receives an automatic life sentence.
Reyes was convicted of killing Melanie Goodwin in September 2007. The young woman was raped and strangled, and her body was set on fire.
Earlier Friday, jurors requested to see video footage from the Denton convenience store where the two met.
The defense rested in the case without calling any witnesses.
A Mexican immigrant who is in the United States legally, Reyes fled to his homeland after the murder, and Mexican authorities agreed to release him to Texas prosecutors only if they pledged not to seek the death penalty.
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Defense attorneys Danny Clancy and Bret Martin urged the jury to find Reyes not guilty. They said that the state had a hole in its case because prosecutors could not account for an hour and a half of Reyes' time on the night of Goodwin's death.
"We're imploring you not to make a snap judgment in this case," Clancy said.
But prosecutor Andrea Handley said the time that the defense attorneys speak of is when Reyes was raping and killing Goodwin.
"I'll submit to you, we know exactly what happened in that time span," Handley said. "During that hole in time, he raped and killed that girl."
Closing arguments were tearful with prosecutors, defense attorneys, family members, jurors and courtroom observers appearing to wipe away tears.
After the jury began deliberations, Goodwin's family and friends put on pink buttons that read,"Melanie is LOVE."
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Following the conviction, Peggy Goodwin took the witness stand to read a statement directly to the man who killed her daughter. A television monitor above her displayed an image of Melanie Goodwin.
"Look up at the video, Mr. Reyes," Peggy Goodwin said. "When we walk out of this courtroom today, you will forever be forgotten by my family. I will not waste even one brain cell on thoughts of you, and you will never hurt me or mine again."
But after court was recessed, the tearful parents of Ernesto Reyes approached and embraced Melanie Goodwin's parents to offer their personal condolences.
Handley said she was disappointed that the DA's office could not seek the death penalty against Reyes. But she said the alternative was to leave him in Mexico and his return to Texas means that prosecutors can seek justice.
WFAA-TV reporter Gary Reaves contributed to this story.
