A Travis County jury yesterday found Jose Aviles guilty of the capital murder of mother and daughter Maria and Norma Hurtado, who were gunned down outside their Southeast Austin home last year.
The murders were prompted by the fact that Aviles’ daughter, Lidia, had been involved in an intimate relationship with Maria. Aviles reportedly did not approve of the relationship and went to the Hurtado home on April 18, 2011, carrying a gun loaded with 14 rounds of ammunition. He knocked on the door and when Maria answered the door he inquired whether Lidia was there; she was, but instead of coming to meet him, Maria’s daughter, and Lidia’s girlfriend, Norma, did so. Shots rang out. Lidia, in a back room, called 911. Aviles was captured less than 12 hours later in East San Antonio where police said he’d been hiding out.
Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, so Aviles will automatically be sentenced to life in prison.
Find more on the Hurtado murders here.
This article appears in December 7 • 2012.