A Collin County jury has convicted 26-year-old Donte Murry of capital murder, and this week a judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors say what was supposed to be a planned meeting in McKinney turned into an armed robbery and fatal shooting, closing a long-running April 2024 homicide case for jurors and the victim's family.
According to The Dallas Morning News, the jury returned its guilty verdict on Friday, with the life-without-parole sentence formally imposed days later. The outlet reports that the victim was found near a parked vehicle with a gunshot wound to the chest. Prosecutors urged jurors to focus on recorded statements and messages they argued showed the killing had been planned in advance.
How prosecutors say the killing unfolded
Prosecutors told jurors the confrontation started as a planned drug meeting that spiraled into violence, with witnesses reporting that Murry walked up to the parked car, got into an argument and then fired multiple shots, according to CBS News Texas. Officers found the victim inside the vehicle, and investigators later recovered a .45-caliber shell casing at the scene that they say tied back to the weapon recovered in Murry's possession.
Evidence and arrest
Per MyTexasDaily, investigators followed muddy footprints from the crime scene to a nearby home, where McKinney SWAT served a search warrant. Inside, officers recovered Murry's firearm, the victim's stolen gun and marijuana. Ballistics testing reportedly matched the .45-caliber casing found in the victim's vehicle to a handgun located in Murry's backpack.
As reported by CBS Texas, prosecutors also played a recorded interview in which Murry first lied to detectives and then admitted he went to the meeting intending to rob the other person. Jurors were shown what authorities described as incriminating text messages, evidence that prosecutors said formed the backbone of their capital murder case.
What Texas law means for the sentence
Under Texas law, a capital murder conviction carries either the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole, and if prosecutors do not seek death the judge must impose a capital-life sentence, according to the state’s criminal procedure rules. The state’s code also limits parole eligibility on capital-life terms, and for some categories an inmate is not eligible for parole until serving 40 years of actual calendar time, per Texas Statutes.
Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis praised the jury’s decision, saying in a statement that “This defendant planned an armed robbery, murdered the victim, and then tried to cover it up with lies,” as quoted by The Dallas Morning News. Willis credited investigators and prosecutors for piecing together the timeline that led to Murry’s conviction.
Case team and victim support
Reporting notes that Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Mollie Thompson and Ann Mathew handled the prosecution, and that victim services were provided by Jill Moore, according to MyTexasDaily. The same outlet states that Murry was represented in court by attorney John Rolater.
Murry will serve his life term under Texas capital sentencing rules, and his legal team may still pursue appeals or other post-conviction challenges. For McKinney residents and the victim’s family, the verdict marks the end of a case that began more than a year ago with a deadly meeting in a parked car.
