Houston Man Guilty of Gunning Down 7-Year-Old as She Rode in Family’s Car
JUSTICE
A Houston man on Friday was found guilty of capital murder for gunning down a young girl in a 2018 drive-by shooting. Larry Woodruffe was handed an automatic life sentence for the death of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes, and will never be eligible for parole, KTRK reported. Barnes was fatally shot while she rode in a car with her mother and sisters during a trip to the store. Barnes’ sisters had initially told investigators they saw a “white man in a red pickup” at the time of the shooting, a detail which Woodruffe’s defense seized on during the trial, but prosecutors said forensic evidence proved Barnes was the shooter and the unidentified driver just happened to be passing by at the time. Barnes’ DNA was found on the murder weapon as well as on bullet fragments found nearby. A second suspect, Eric Black, took a plea deal in exchange for his testimony against Woodruffe. Black was the wheelman in the drive-by, prosecutors said. He will face no more than 35 years in prison due to his cooperation.