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BROWNSVILLE — A jury has found a Brownsville man guilty of being intoxicated when he barreled into 18 migrants outside the Ozanam Center at a bus stop, killing eight people.
George Alvarez has been on trial on eight counts of intoxication manslaughter since Monday. He previously pleaded guilty to eight counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on Tuesday prior to the commencement of witness testimony.
The jury began deliberating the case at 3 p.m. Thursday, but was sent home about an hour later.
They reached a verdict at approximately 11:15 a.m. after reconvening for deliberations at 8:30 a.m. Friday.
In all, it took a little less than four hours for them to convict Alvarez of eight counts of intoxication manslaughter.
The jury reached a sentencing verdict at approximately 4:30 p.m. Friday, and Alvarez was then sentenced to 60 years.
The jury began deliberating the sentence at around 3 p.m.
Jurors sentenced him to 20 years on the eight intoxication manslaughter counts and 15 years on eight counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
During the sentencing hearing, Prosecutor Art Teniente asked state District Judge Adolfo E. Cordova to stack four of the intoxication manslaughter convictions for a total of 80 years on top of the 15 years for the other counts, which will run concurrently.
Cordova instead stacked three of the counts for 60 years.
Alvarez’s lawyers had asked for leniency, saying that he wanted to be a good father to his children and that his own father was not to him.
Teniente, however, speaking on behalf of the victims — those who died and those who will never be left whole — said this was all caused by Alvarez choosing to drive intoxicated, causing the most serious intoxicated crash in Brownsville and Cameron County history.
Teniente said Alvarez has had a million second chances and has been smoking crack cocaine since he was 11, calling Alvarez a clear danger to the people of Cameron County.
Any kind of probation would be an insult to all of the victims, Teniente said.
Raul Bravos, who testified during the trial that the SUV ripped his leg from his body, which he demonstrated with his prosthetic limb to the jury and the judge, spoke after the sentencing.
“Recebimos lo que queremos,” Bravos said in Spanish, meaning we received what we wanted.
Alvarez, who took the stand on Friday, told jurors that he was sorry from the bottom of his heart.
He said he realized that he couldn’t bring anyone back or make any of the surviving victims whole again, but he still maintains and said to the jury and judge and prosecutor that he was not intoxicated when he rolled his SUV — but instead that it was an accident.
The fatal crash — that made national headlines — happened on May 7, 2023 at approximately 8:29 a.m.
Alvarez killed Jose Cario-Moreno, Cristian Sangranis Rodriguez, Brayan Garcia, Hector Medina Medero, Enyerbeth Cabarcas, Luis Matute Vasquez, Jorge Flores Colina and Richard Bustamante Perez that day.
The crux of the case was whether Alvarez was high on cocaine.
Defense attorney Cesar De Leon told jurors during closing arguments that the first thing Alvarez told him when they met was that he was not intoxicated — the attorney believed him.
Teniente, however, painted a different picture.
During closing arguments, Teniente said there was a mountain of evidence that says Alvarez was intoxicated and that everybody who had significant contact with him after the crash agreed.
Witness testimony indicated a cocaine metabolite was found in Alvarez’s toxicology tests.
Alvarez admitted to using cocaine, but said he last used it several days before the crash.
In a statement following the trial, Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz thanked the jury.
“On behalf of the citizens of Cameron County, the Brownsville Police Department, and the surviving victims and relatives of the deceased, I want to sincerely thank the members of the jury for doing the right thing,” Saenz said in the statement. “As a result of the defendant’s voluntary conduct and his bad choices, 8 innocent people brutally and horribly lost their lives, and another 10, equally innocent, individuals had their lives forever negatively impacted and changed.”
Editor’s note: This story and headline have been updated with the full version, and the sentence was corrected to 60 years.
