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Three years after it decided to seek the death penalty for a man indicted in the killings of two teenage brothers in North Richland Hills, the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office has waived the supreme capital murder punishment.
Life in prison without parole eligibility is now the top possible punishment for Jesse Williams, who authorities allege shot to death Isaiah Aponte, 19, and Anthony Aponte, 17, at the same time in January 2022.
The district attorney’s office said its decision, formalized in a waiver filing on Friday, was urged by relatives of the Apontes.
“In our conversations with the victims’ family, they expressed their desire to not seek the death penalty. We are following the wishes of the family,” a representative of the district attorney’s office wrote in response to a reporter’s inquiry.
Williams was dating the brothers’ mother. Law enforcement authorities have not described the killings’ motive.
The brothers were sleeping when Williams shot them in the head, authorities have said.
The victims were shot at their house in the 5100 block of Gibbons Drive.
This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 5:15 PM.
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Emerson Clarridge covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He works days and reports on law enforcement affairs in Tarrant County. He previously was a reporter at the Omaha World-Herald and the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York.