UPDATE: Guilty Verdict in Ector County Cold Case Murder
By: Dylan Brooks
Updated: November 2, 2012
UPDATE: The Odessa American is reporting that Leroy Flores Alaniz has been convicted of teh 1991 murder of Larry Alan Willsey. He has also been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
ODESSA -- An Ector County jury was deliberating the fate of a man accused of a cold-case murder Thursday evening.
Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland tells Big 2 that jurors went into deliberations in the capital murder trial against Leroy Flores Alaniz on Thursday afternoon.
Prosecutors say Alaniz, 54, savagely beat Larry Alan Willsey to death with a baseball bat during a robbery at the Party House Lounge (1415 North West County Road) in October 1991.
Alaniz was reportedly wearing a ski mask at the time of the robbery, and authorities couldn't identify him.
Investigators were able to use D.N.A. evidence to arrest Alaniz in September 2010 -- almost 19 years after the incident.
Alaniz was indicted in November 2010, but his trial was delayed twice before the mistrial even took place.
A first attempt at a trial against Alaniz ended in a mistrial on September 26th, due to an issue with a juror.
If convicted, Alaniz faces up to life in prison.
ODESSA -- An Ector County jury was deliberating the fate of a man accused of a cold-case murder Thursday evening.
Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland tells Big 2 that jurors went into deliberations in the capital murder trial against Leroy Flores Alaniz on Thursday afternoon.
Prosecutors say Alaniz, 54, savagely beat Larry Alan Willsey to death with a baseball bat during a robbery at the Party House Lounge (1415 North West County Road) in October 1991.
Alaniz was reportedly wearing a ski mask at the time of the robbery, and authorities couldn't identify him.
Investigators were able to use D.N.A. evidence to arrest Alaniz in September 2010 -- almost 19 years after the incident.
Alaniz was indicted in November 2010, but his trial was delayed twice before the mistrial even took place.
A first attempt at a trial against Alaniz ended in a mistrial on September 26th, due to an issue with a juror.
If convicted, Alaniz faces up to life in prison.
