Saturday, June 21, 1997
Acosta gets 10 years probation
By SANDRA CHITTUM / Abilene Reporter-News Correspondent
ANSON - Gary Acosta Jr. was given a 10-year probated sentence
and fined $10,000 Friday by a Jones County jury for the June 1996
stabbing death of a Stamford man.
On Thursday the jury had found Acosta, 18, guilty of the murder
of John Thomas Hicks. He could have received up to 99 years or
life in prison.
Jurors took 4-1/2 hours to determine the sentence, once sending
a note to 259th District Judge Quay Parker that they were deadlocked.
Later jurors said three were holding out for a prison sentence
before deciding on probation.
Acosta took the stand in his own behalf, sobbing and pleading
with jurors to give him a second chance. His lawyer, Gary Connally,
cautioned the jury not to be "frightened into a frenzy to
do something you might regret later. I ask you to give him a second
chance to be a part of society."
District Attorney Gary Brown asked for a prison sentence in
the "upper years," calling Hick's murder a "senseless
killing."
He noted that no testimony was presented showing that Acosta
tried to help Hicks in any way during the attack, which involved
several people.
Also testifying for Acosta was his sister Leslie Acosta and
his father Gary Acosta Sr. of Abilene.
The sister testified that her brother was "the man of
the house" for alarge family, including Acosta's wife and
two children, four sisters and their grandmother.
Before his incarceration, Acosta was employed at a tire recycling
plant in Stamford and worked at a cotton gin and hauled cotton.
On Monday, Judge Parker will assess the conditions of Acosta's
probation.
In April, another Jones County jury found Jude Pardo Jr., 20,
guilty of the same crime and sentenced him to 50 years in prison.
Norman Ben Acosta, 32, awaits trial and is being held in Jones
County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bond.
Two juveniles who were certified as adults, Adam Mendez and
Israel Ibarra, previously pleaded guilty. Mendez received a 15-year
prison term and Ibarra received 10 years deferred adjudication.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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