Dallas County prosecutors secured a capital murder conviction Friday of a Temple man who killed his infant daughter, according to news reports.
Christopher Paul Weiss, 32, was found guilty by a McLennan County jury of fatally shooting 1-year-old Azariah Martinez in November 2017. He was automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole because prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot and attorneys from his office prosecuted the case after the local DA recused himself, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported. Creuzot did not immediately respond to a text message asking for comment on the verdict.
The jury deliberated for less than an hour after four days of testimony, according to the Tribune-Herald.
Azariah and her mother, 24-year-old Valarie Martinez, were found with multiple gunshot wounds to their heads at Tradinghouse Lake, east of Waco. Valarie Martinez was found lying outside her car and Azariah was strapped into her car seat.
Police have described the killing as “execution style.”
Investigators believed Weiss was in a relationship with Valarie Martinez at the time of the killings while married to another woman with whom he had two children. According to testimony, Weiss was Azariah’s father.
Weiss has been jailed since his arrest in 2017. He also faces a murder charge in connection with Valarie Martinez’s slaying, but Creuzot told KCEN-TV he does not believe his office will try Weiss for her death.
