SAN ANTONIO — A jury has found a murder suspect to be guilty of escaping from the Bexar County Jail.
Luis Arroyo didn't react to the guilty verdict, but the prosecutors and the defense team got into a heated debate as they moved into the punishment phase.
It took the jury 19 minutes to find Arroyo guilty for escaping the Bexar County Jail in March 2018.
During the trial, the jury was shown a small handsaw blade and video showing three men climbing down a wall with a bed sheet before jumping into a woman's car.
"There was some sort of lack of identification issues, but the jury clearly believed beyond a reasonable doubt," said Arroyo's attorney, Joel Perez.
He said the guilty verdict could put Arroyo in prison for anywhere from 25 years to life.
Anger flared in the courtroom as the defense team argued with prosecutors about a 2016 capital murder charge against Arroyo. He's accused of killing two people and stabbing a third.
That case ended in a mistrial.
"This is the same State of Texas that didn't prove it," Arroyo's attorney, Raymond Fuchs, argued.
"His Y-STR DNA is on the gun handle, do you want me to...swab the gun...you want me to do everything ?" the prosecutor said.
"Yes, retry the case again," Arroyo's attorneys said.
Perez said they felt the state failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt to a separate jury.
"So we are objecting to the state admitting that into evidence before this jury," he said.
If the murder charges are presented during the punishment trial of the escape case, it could sway the jury to increase the number of years Arroyo serves in prison.
At this time, the capital murder case is pending.
The judge will decide what evidence the prosecutors can use during the punishment trial.
Arroyo will be back in court Thursday morning where jury will determine how many years he will serve in prison.
He has also filed a lawsuit against Bexar County Jail. He claims several deputies beat him up while he was in custody. You can see more on that below.
