A Tarrant County jury found Timothy Huff guilty of murder on Monday for the 2018 killing of a Fort Worth police officer.
Huff, 36, was convicted of capital murder for the death of 40-year-old officer Garrett Hull. The verdict was unanimous and took roughly one hour to reach, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
As reported by The Dallas Express, Huff was one of the three suspects involved in the fatal shooting of Officer Hull.
Samuel Mayfield, a suspected accomplice of Huff’s, is also charged with capital murder for the same crime, but he does not have a trial date set at this time.
On September 13, 2018, undercover Fort Worth police officers were surveilling Huff, Mayfield, and a third man, Dacion Steptoe, suspecting the three men of committing at least 17 robberies in and around Fort Worth.
Hull, who was working undercover, was shot in the head during a gun battle with Huff and his accomplices.
On the night of the shooting, the three suspects allegedly struck the Los Vaqueros Sports Bar with 10 customers inside. The bar belonged to Victor Zepeda. Police claim they watched the three men enter Los Vaqueros and proceed to rob it.
The three men were unaware that Hull and some other undercover and uniformed officers had been watching them as they entered the bar. As Huff and his alleged accomplices left the bar, officers moved in and attempted to arrest them.
A gun battle erupted as the officers tried to arrest the three men around the corner on May Street, during which Steptoe shot Officer Garrett Hull in the head. Police returned fire and killed Steptoe.
Hull was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. The officer died of his injuries just after midnight on Friday, September 14, 2018, at JPS Hospital.
Huff and Mayfield were arrested and subsequently charged with capital murder.
Even though they did not fire the gun that killed Hull, prosecutors argued that the two men were still responsible for the inciting incident that led to Hull’s death. They knew that someone could die during the commission of their robberies, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
For his part, Huff’s attorney, William Harris, argued at trial that his client was not necessarily tied to every robbery cited by police and that he put his gun down and surrendered when told to do so the night of Hull’s murder.
During the punishment phase of Huff’s trial, Officer Ryan Navarro told jurors that he tended to Hull’s injuries and drove him to the hospital.
Navaro is a Fort Worth PD officer who worked closely with Hull in the department’s elite intelligence unit.
“You lose the guy that was the glue that sticks you together,” Navarro told jurors. “He’s the best cop I’ve ever known.”
Huff’s trial was delayed twice, first because he had ingested razor blades while in jail, as reported by The Dallas Express, and then again because an attorney involved in the case got sick.
Huff will now face either a death sentence or life in prison, whichever the jury sees fit.
The trial’s penalty phase began Monday afternoon and is expected to last through Wednesday. Jurors will hear different testimony as to whether Huff deserves one sentence over the other and then render a binding decision per Texas law.
The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office is seeking the death penalty.
“Huff’s trial was delayed … because he had ingested razor blades while in jail…”
OUCH! THAT is desperation if not an admission of guilt.