A 35th District Court jury convicted 24-year-old Matthew Navarro of capital murder Monday afternoon in the 2009 shooting death of Ronald Philen, two weeks after the trial began.
Navarro was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole by District Judge Steve Ellis, who explained the sentence is mandated by law after the state waives the death penalty.
Navarro was the last of four men to be convicted for the December 11, 2009 murder in Brownwood. Others convicted in this case include 23-year-old Pedro Rocha, Jr. who was also found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, 23-year-old Alex “Lucky” Gil who entered a plea agreement earlier in 2013 and received a 40 year prison sentence, as did 22-year-old Efrain Castillo III who also received a 40 year sentence.Originally, Philen’s twin brother Randall had been convicted of the death in November 22, 2011, at which time Judge Ellis issued a sentence of life in prison for the murder and two years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, for a felony marijuana charge which would run concurrently. He was later exonerated and released from prison after new evidence was uncovered in the case which indicated a home invasion had occurred and that others had committed the murder.
