(Credit: Hays County)
Esaia Morris’s murder trial began on November 13, 2018, and concluded today (November 27) after a six-day Thanksgiving recess. The trial began with Morris pleading guilty to murder for shooting his roommate Francisco Sierra to death on February 5, 2016. While Morris admitted guilt, he claimed that he had committed the murder under the influence of sudden passion.
The trial testimony established that Sierra had been celebrating his birthday the night before his death. He was discovered the next day lying on his back, having been shot in the head through a pillow that was placed over his face.
The next morning, Morris confessed to a co-worker that he had killed Sierra, and then disposed of the gun in a pond. Police later recovered the murder weapon from the pond, which was matched to the bullet found at Sierra’s autopsy.
Morris also confessed to police that he had killed Sierra, but gave several conflicting versions of how the murder had occurred. Morris claimed that he had snapped immediately after an unwanted sexual encounter with Sierra, but the jury heard other evidence suggesting that Morris had initiated the encounter, then had been aggressive and threatening immediately after the encounter, and the actual murder occurred hours later.
The jury returned their verdict after just over three hours of deliberation. Rejecting Morris’s plea for a finding of sudden passion, the jury handed down a sentence of 75 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
