Texas man Jerry Hartfield convicted – again – in 1976 bus attendant slaying
BAY CITY, Texas (AP) — A 59-year-old mentally ill Texas man imprisoned for more than 35 years despite his original murder conviction being overturned has been found guilty a second time...
BAY CITY, Texas (AP) — A 59-year-old mentally ill Texas man imprisoned for more than 35 years despite his original murder conviction being overturned has been found guilty a second time.
A jury Wednesday found Jerry Hartfield guilty of murder in the September 1976 slaying of 55-year-old Eunice Lowe, who sold tickets at the bus station in Bay City, about 100 miles southwest of Houston.
Testimony showed she was fatally beaten with a pickaxe and that her attacker had sex with her after she was dead.
Hartfield’s original 1977 conviction was thrown out on appeal in 1980. Gov. Mark White in 1983 commuted his sentence to life. A federal judge ruled in 2009 there was no sentence to commute.
The judge ordered jurors to return to court Thursday for the sentencing phase.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
