A man was caught on video elbowing a bailiff after hearing the guilty verdict against him for murdering a detective.
Otis McKane was immediately swarmed by Bexar County courthouse officials in Texas on Monday. It is unclear if jurors saw this or had any inkling about what happened. They are scheduled to begin the penalty phase Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. Central Time. McKane faces the death penalty for shooting and killing Detective Benjamin Marconi, 50, a 27-year veteran of the San Antonio Police Department.
#SAPD remembers Detective Benjamin Marconi. pic.twitter.com/qzzeldl9oi
— San Antonio PD (@SATXPolice) November 20, 2020
As seen on video, the bailiff returned to court after the attack, and for all intents and purposes, he appeared fine. Attorneys for McKane did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment. Neither did the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.
Jurors only took 25 minutes to find McKane guilty. He shot Marconi twice in the head in front of police headquarters on November 20, 2016 as the detective was sitting in a patrol car writing a ticket, prosecutors said in a KSAT report.
“This is not a ‘whodunnit,'” prosecutor Mario Del Prado said in closing arguments, according to the San Antonio Report. “We know it was [McKane]. And we know who he shot.”
Prosecutors pointed to McKane’s confession.
“I wanted to make the police station feel the burn that I felt in my heart,” he told officers on video. McKane also reportedly told journalists that he had lashed out because he was angry over a child custody dispute.
Attorney Joel Perez argued that McKane was emotionally vulnerable. He suggested that some witness testimony was rewarded with police department positions and that McKane did not really waive his rights.
Perez also maintained that Marconi was texting about personal business on his phone.
“Talk about grasping for straws,” prosecutor Prado said about the phone detail. “That’s a ridiculous argument.”
[Screengrab via KSAT]
