SAN ANTONIO – A man accused of robbing and fatally shooting a 20-year-old man in 2023 was found guilty on Friday.
A Bexar County jury found Jayveon Johnson guilty of murder and aggravated robbery in connection with the death of David Allen Rezentes. The punishment phase for Johnson began on Friday, and the jury will deliberate his sentence on Monday.
Johnson could face up to life in prison.
BACKGROUND
Police said that on March 25, 2023, Rezentes was lured into a drug deal but was instead ambushed and killed. He was found dead at the corner of El Paso and Elvira streets on the West Side.
Authorities arrested Johnson and his co-defendants, Mariah Cabrera and Jonathan Garza, five months later. Months later, Angel Salas was also arrested and charged in the case.
During Johnson’s trial, prosecutors told jurors that Johnson allegedly ordered Cabrera to shoot Rezentes.
During opening statements, prosecutors said Johnson and several others planned to rob a man named Richard Diaz, who intended to sell them drugs. However, when Diaz arrived with Rezentes, they were ambushed.
“They ran to the car with guns and demanded property from Diaz and Rezentes,” prosecutor Jennifer McDaniel said in court. “This man told Mariah Cabrera to shoot, and when she did, she hit Rezentes in the chest.”
A church’s surveillance camera captured the shooting. Prosecutors further said that Johnson confessed to being present at the scene and instructed Cabrera to fire the gun.
Defense attorney Daniel De La Garza urged jurors to consider all the evidence, arguing that the case stemmed from a “drug deal gone bad.”
“The complainant was a drug dealer, his friend was a drug dealer,” De La Garza said. “Keep an open mind to the role each person played.”
Cabrera accepted a plea deal in December and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. The two other co-defendants are still awaiting trial.
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