Houston teen convicted of murder in robbery that netted one dollar

Miguel Ramos, a 32-year-old homeless day laborer who was killed in a robbery last year, died fighting. He was allegedly killed for a single dollar bill that had been torn in half.

Prosecutor Beth Exley on Tuesday pointed across the courtroom at 19-year-old Carlos Daniel Fernandez and urged jurors to find him guilty of capital murder.

"He killed him because he put up a fight," Exley told the jury in closing arguments. "That's it."

Defense lawyers for Fernandez conceded that he was robbing Ramos and fired three times, hitting him once in the heart, killing him.

But, they argued, Fernandez committed murder, not capital murder, because he didn't intend to kill Ramos. Fernandez was trying to stop his robbery victim from charging at him, his lawyers said.

No life without parole

The parsing persuaded jurors to convict Fernandez of murder after four hours of deliberating Tuesday. The difference between the charges means Fernandez escaped an automatic sentence of life without parole.

"I told the jury that the prosecutors bit off more than they could chew," said attorney Casey Keirnan. "Telling the jury that your client intentionally shot somebody but he didn't intend to kill them is a hard thing to convey under the law of specific intent, but that's what it is."

Instead of an automatic sentence, jurors will decide punishment from a range of five years to life in prison after hearing more evidence beginning Wednesday.

If they sentence Fernandez to the maximum, the teen will be eligible for parole in 30 years.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the jury's decision and typically don't speak publicly during an ongoing trial.

Ramos was killed after Fernandez and three other teens held him and two friends at gunpoint by the mobile home where they squatted near Hempstead Highway on April 4, 2012.

Victim fought back

The teens were cruising in a green Honda, looking for prostitutes to rob, said Brian Harris, a sergeant with the Houston Police Department homicide division.

Fernandez had a .25-caliber pistol. His girlfriend, Victoria Correa, had a shotgun.

They were with her brother, Michael Alexander Correa, who had a .38-caliber handgun. He was accompanied by his wife, Marilyn Villarreal.

Correa was out of work, and he and Villarreal needed money for their 1-year-old baby, according to HPD's Harris.

The teens saw Ramos and his friends walking with a cooked chicken they had bought on credit from a food truck, and mistakenly thought the men had cash.

But as they held the three at gunpoint, one of the teens told police, the men fought back.

Victoria Correa, then 16, told investigators she fired the shotgun at the men but missed. Fernandez shot Ramos, and the teens fled.

Homeowner wounded

Days later, during a botched home invasion, Victoria Correa was shot in the leg. Fernandez shot the homeowner who was fighting back six times in the side. He survived and testified against Fernandez on Monday.

Victoria Correa later confessed and was sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated robbery.

Her brother is awaiting trial along with Villarreal. Both are 18.

Prosecutor Ed McClees told the jury that the quartet of teens were looking for easy targets and became violent when their victims resisted being robbed.

"They did this for the thrill of it," McClees said. "They thought these people wouldn't fight back, and it was a thrill for them."