{"id":184107,"date":"2026-02-28T05:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T05:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/184107\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T05:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T05:24:08","slug":"fort-worth-jury-convicts-man-of-capital-murder-in-2-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/184107\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth jury convicts man of capital murder in 2 deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                <img class=\"responsive-image\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\"  alt=\"Get breaking news alerts at star-telegram.com\/newsletters.\" title=\"Get breaking news alerts at star-telegram.com\/newsletters.\" \/><\/p>\n<p>        Get breaking news alerts at star-telegram.com\/newsletters.<\/p>\n<p>            Pexels<\/p>\n<p>A man was automatically sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole after a jury convicted him of capital murder in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.star-telegram.com\/news\/local\/crime\/article288045788.html\">Fort Worth shooting deaths of two men<\/a>, including the gunman\u2019s cousin.<\/p>\n<p>Jurors at the trial in Tarrant County\u2019s 297th District Court found Alfredo Cantu Martinez, 45, of Dallas, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TarrantCountyDA\/status\/2027522873447837727?s=20\">guilty of capital murder<\/a> of multiple persons.<\/p>\n<p>One of the victims, 26-year-old Martin Hernandez Jr. picked up Martinez, who was his cousin, in Dallas on April 23, 2024, according to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>The cousins drove to Fort Worth, where they planned to visit several people, including 24-year-old Michael Cantu, the district attorney\u2019s office said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez and Hernandez spoke with Cantu outside his home, and the three men walked toward an alley, which was out of sight of Cantu\u2019s girlfriend, prosecutors said. The girlfriend was sitting nearby in a car with the hood raised. Moments later, she heard gunshots, followed by silence.<\/p>\n<p>The woman found her boyfriend and Hernandez lying in the alley, suffering from gunshot wounds. She called 911.<\/p>\n<p>Cantu was shot in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene. Hernandez was shot multiple times and died after he was taken to a hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Officers found Martinez running away from the crime scene, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe should all be frightened of that man,\u201d Assistant District Attorney D.J. Estes told the jury. \u201cHe\u2019s guilty. He took two lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Estes prosecuted the case with ADA Lauren Lawrence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"summary gray\">This story was originally published February 27, 2026 at 6:24 PM.<\/p>\n<p>        Related Stories from  Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.star-telegram.com\/profile\/228271509\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Amy McDaniel profile photo.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Profile Image of Amy McDaniel\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.star-telegram.com\/profile\/228271509\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Amy McDaniel<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n<p>            Amy McDaniel edits stories about criminal justice, breaking news and education for the Star-Telegram.\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get breaking news alerts at star-telegram.com\/newsletters. Pexels A man was automatically sentenced Friday to life in prison without&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[73660,116,118,63180,117,38617,73661,65953],"class_list":["post-184107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-capital-murder-trial","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-murder","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-fort-worth-shooting","tag-guilty-verdict","tag-life-sentence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}