A San Antonio man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for shooting his girlfriend’s father to death outside a taco restaurant in 2024.
Franco Xavier Summers was 32 when he was arrested and charged with murder in the Nov. 9, 2024, death of Christopher Paul Fuentes, 43.
As a jury was set to begin hearing opening statements in Summers’ trial on Tuesday morning, he abruptly decided to consider a plea deal that had been discussed between his attorney Martin Guerra and Bexar County prosecutor Lauren Scott.
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Summers pleaded no contest to a murder charge before visiting Judge Jefferson Moore, who was assigned to hear the case following the recusal of state District Judge Benjamin Robertson who presides over the 226th District Court.
Moore accepted Summers’ plea of no contest and found him guilty on the murder charge. As part of the deal, charges of assault
/family strangulation and evading arrest or detention were dismissed.
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Fuentes’ relatives cried in the courtroom as they delivered victim impact statements.
“Christopher was a grandson, son, father and a friend,” Christina Fuentes said of her cousin. “He wasn’t perfect. None of us are. But perfection isn’t a necessary requirement for a life to have value.”
Another cousin, David Rocha, told Summers of the devastation his act left behind.
“This tragic loss has shattered my family and left a permanent scar on my heart,” Rocha said. “No family should have to endure this pain and loss.”
Summers shot Fuentes after the men argued over Fuentes refusing to pay a cover charge to get into a club, according to court documents.
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The argument continued during the course of the evening, and Summers told his girlfriend and her father that he had a gun, according to the affidavit.
At some point Fuentes and his daughter got out of the car the three had been riding in. Summers then drove up to his girlfriend as she and her father were walking in front of a Taco Palenque restaurant in the 180000 block of Blanco Road.
Surveillance footage showed Fuentes walking up to the driver’s side of the car and reaching inside to grab Summers’ arm. As the men struggled, Fuentes motioned to his daughter to run, and Summers is shown firing several shots at Fuentes, the affidavit states.
Summers, who has a criminal record that includes a murder charge that was dismissed in 2013, will have to serve at least half of his time before he would be considered eligible for parole.
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This article originally published at San Antonio man gets 25-year sentence for killing his girlfriend’s dad.