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Jury convicts Texas man in shooting, beheading of roommate

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty when testimony begins Wednesday on sentencing.
Hector Acosta-Ojeda (mugshot from previous crime)

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A jury has found a North Texas man guilty of capital murder in the fatal shooting and beheading of his roommate and fatal shooting of the roommate's 17-year-old girlfriend as she tried to flee.

The Tarrant County jury deliberated for more than five hours in Fort Worth before finding Hector Acosta-Ojeda guilty of capital murder in the September 2017 killings of Erick Zelaya and Iris Chirinos. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty when testimony begins Wednesday on sentencing. If a jury can't agree on death, Acosta-Ojeda would receive a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole.

RELATED: Arlington decapitation suspect speaks from jail

RELATED: Second suspect in double murder arrested in Fort Worth

Prosecutors say Acosta-Ojeda shot Zelaya twice in the head while he slept and left his severed head on a trail near AT&T Stadium in Arlington after Zelaya admitted shooting at Acosta-Ojeda's former home.

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