Jury: Ex-drug informant guilty of murder

BACLIFF — A jury found a former drug informant guilty of murder Wednesday in a bat-and-hammer slaying of a wealthy Bacliff man.

The jury of six men and six women deliberated about an hour before convicting Robert Villanueva, 39, in the Oct. 5, 2007, killing of Albert Walter Lacy, 74.

Villanueva, who testified he bought drugs and firearms as an informant for local and federal authorities, took the witness stand Wednesday in his own defense.

Defense attorney Winston Cochran attempted to convince the jury that Villanueva’s videotaped confession was a fabrication.

Villanueva testified he initially tried to take the blame in order not to implicate dangerous men.

“When I went into the police station, I intended to take sole responsibility for the death,” Villanueva said. “I realized I didn’t have no details of Lacy’s death.”

Prosecutor Bill Reed reminded the jury that drug informants are manipulative and good liars.

Reed claimed the motive for Lacy’s death was robbery. Lacy was a man known to help less fortunate residents and to carry cash.

Relatives found $50,000 in his safe, money from a land deal, after he died.

In Villanueva’s interview with police, he claimed to have struck Lacy with an object, possibly a hammer, multiple times until he stopped moving.

Co-prosecutor Adam Poole told the jury Villanueva lacked credibility.

“It’s very convenient for a man who killed somebody and now three years later regrets talking to the police about it,” Poole said.

“It’s easier for him to look all 13 of you in the eye, deny it and have a lame excuse that he was protecting his daughter, when it’s obvious he’s trying to protect himself,” Poole said.

The 13th juror was an alternate who did not deliberate.

Cochran told the jury there were many other suspects who would have killed Lacy.

Another man remains jailed awaiting a possible trial in Lacy’s death.

The jury is expected to return today to Judge Wayne J. Mallia’s 405th District Court in Galveston to begin Villanueva’s punishment hearing.

Villanueva faces a punishment range of five to 99 years or life, Poole said.