There was a heated change between prosecutors and the protection within the trial of Tony Earls, who’s accused of capturing 9-year-old Arlene Alvarez to dying in 2022.
HOUSTON — Jurors heard graphic testimony Thursday within the trial of the person accused of capturing and killing 9-year-old Arlene Alvarez on Valentine’s Day 2022.
Editor’s word: Some particulars mentioned within the testimony could also be graphic.
Tony Earls is charged with manslaughter. Prosecutors say he acted recklessly the night time he opened fireplace after being robbed exterior a Houston financial institution. The Alvarez household’s truck — not a robber’s getaway automobile — was struck, and Arlene died from a gunshot wound to the pinnacle.
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Father cross-examined
Arlene’s father, Armando Alvarez, briefly returned to the stand Thursday morning to be cross-examined by the protection.
Earls’ protection confirmed him a map of the place the capturing occurred. He confirmed the place his car was when it was shot at and the place it stopped.
The protection requested if he remembered telling investigators that Earls had shot into the automobile as a result of he thought Earls believed they had been concerned within the theft. Armando Alvarez testified that he did.
Harris County Assistant Deputy Chief Medical Examiner testifies
Assistant Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Hannah Jarvis took the stand after Arlene’s father.
She testified that when her workplace acquired Arlene’s physique, it was in good well being, apart from the accidents from the capturing, and there have been no underlying circumstances.
A photograph of Arlene on the medical expert’s was proven within the courtroom.
Jarvis described her accidents, together with a gunshot wound that went by way of Arlene’s eyebrow and entered her head.
An X-ray picture of Arlene’s neck and cranium was additionally proven to the jury. Jarvis stated the X-rays had been taken on the medical expert’s workplace and confirmed a bullet nonetheless lodged at the back of the woman’s head.
“There’s this tough ridge in your eyebrow. The bullet really punched a gap by way of that bone and truly began to fragment,” Jarvis stated.
She stated the bullet tore by way of each side of Arlene’s mind earlier than being lodged at the back of her head.
Jarvis described how after the capturing, Arlene was rushed to a hospital the place she was unable to breathe on her personal and was on a respiration tube. She stated the woman was basically on life assist earlier than she was decided to be mind lifeless someday later.
“She was not capable of get better from this damage to her mind,” Jarvis stated. “Arlene died from a penetrating gunshot wound of her head.”
Jarvis stated the dying was dominated murder.
Earl’s protection declined to cross-examine Jarvis.
Crime Scene Investigator testifies
Jose Matos Perez, against the law scene investigator with the Houston Forensic Science Middle, gave testimony explaining how the crime scene was documented.
Perez testified that he photographed the scene and confirmed that among the photographs the state supplied as proof had been ones that he took.
On cross-examination, the protection questioned how troublesome it will be to point out what Earls would have been capable of see the night time of the capturing in {a photograph}.
“It is actually exhausting in cameras,” Perez testified. “The aim is simply to doc the scene, simply to attempt to present how the scene was.”
He later testified that the intent of the photographs was simply to doc the scene as precisely as attainable, to not recreate the scene because the crime occurred. He stated against the law scene reconstruction skilled to take these sorts of photographs.
The prosecution confirmed among the photographs Perez took, exhibiting the proof markers within the context of the scene. Among the photographs proven highlighted the varied bullet casings and projectiles discovered on the scene. Others confirmed a pool of liquid that had apparently leaked out of Armando Alvarez’s truck after the capturing.
Perez testified that he didn’t accumulate a pattern of the fluid from the scene as he didn’t consider it will be related to the case.
At a number of occasions, the protection emphasised the lighting within the photographs.
The protection additionally supplied daytime photographs of the scene, showing to point out an indication for the financial institution and a shrub blocking what Earls would have been capable of see from the ATM. The protection argued {that a} sketch of the crime scene didn’t measure the signal or different mounted objects within the signal, which might have been related proof. Perez testified that these measurements weren’t throughout the scope of the aim of the sketch.
The protection argued that measurements on the crime scene had been approximate. Perez agreed. The protection then argued that the sort of correct measurements wanted for crime scene reconstruction weren’t taken.
Emotional first day of testimony
On Wednesday, jurors heard opening statements from each side and noticed a brand new video exhibiting the second Earls and his spouse had been robbed at gunpoint at a Chase ATM.
Prosecutors instructed jurors they might show Earls fired 10 photographs that night time and lied on a 911 name by claiming the robber shot at him first.
The protection countered that Earls was inside his authorized rights to fireplace at an armed suspect and that investigators failed to completely look at the scene.
A number of objections throughout opening statements had been sustained by the decide.
Mother and father’ voices in court docket
Jurors listened to the 911 name made by Arlene’s mom, Wendy Alvarez.
“I would like an ambulance, please. I don’t need her to die, please!”
Later in court docket, one other clip was performed.
“Please, I don’t need my daughter to die… he was capturing within the air into our truck…”
Physique digital camera footage from Officer Stevens, the primary to reach, confirmed him talking with Arlene’s father, Armando Alvarez, simply moments after the capturing.
“The man in that automobile…began capturing randomly, I suppose he was capturing at that man. Simply randomly shot towards my truck, growth, shot twice, and hit her proper in her f******* head.”
Father’s testimony
Armando Alvarez additionally took the stand on Wednesday. He described the night time his household was heading to Spanky’s, one in all Arlene’s favourite eating places, when photographs rang out.
“We had been trying straight at him as he was capturing towards our car. I went down the street a bit bit till I noticed Arlene’s head on the console. I assumed she had ducked down, however it was as a result of she had a bullet in her head,” the daddy stated throughout testimony.
He instructed jurors he held his daughter in his arms after she was hit. The court docket recessed whereas he was nonetheless testifying.
Background
Earls was initially charged with aggravated assault in 2022, however a grand jury declined to indict him. In 2024, following a brand new investigation, he was indicted on a homicide cost. That cost was later dismissed, and prosecutors filed the present manslaughter cost.
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