SAN ANGELO, TX – After a brief discussion with prosecutors and the district judge, the defense in the Ryan Renfroe murder trial rested its case without presenting any evidence Thursday. Renfroe faces life in prison as he is charged with murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the shooting death of Jakob Jones in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2024 in the alley beside Fat Boss Pub at 114 S. Chadbourne St. in downtown San Angelo.
Renfroe has pleaded not guilty by self defense in the murder. Evidence presented by the prosecution painted a picture of an ongoing argument that started with a road rage incident on Main St. three days earlier. In that episode, evidence suggests Renfroe and his wife were southbound on Main St. crossing over the Houston Harte expressway headed downtown. Jakob Jones and his friends were in his pickup turning left out of the Allsup's Convenience store parking lot. Jones said in Facebook messages that Renfroe ran the red light and almost hit him. Renfroe says he had a green light and Jones pulled out in front of him almost causing a crash.
Jones then followed Renfroe downtown, tailgating him the several blocks to Harris St. where Jones pulled into the Shannon parking lot. Renfroe turned left onto Harris and Jones hopped the curb and followed him. Testimony showed Jones' pickup broke down and the chase stopped.
The next day, according to Renfroe, he found Jones on the jail booking report and then searched Facebook and found Jones profile. Renfroe told police in a subsequent interview that he wanted Jones to apologize to his wife for gestures and comments during the road rage incident.
The pair exchanged hundreds of Facebook messages over the next three days with the threats of violence and vulgar language, escalating to the point that they agreed to meet downtown and fight to settle their differences. See out previous reporting for further details.
District Attorney Allison Palmer and her team rested their case earlier in the afternoon Thursday after presenting two witnesses who showed the jury the gun used in the fatal shooting, the shattered glasses Jones was wearing when he was shot in the eye, and the exhaustive list of Facebook messages.
With the prosecution resting and the defense not presenting any evidence and then resting an hour later, the trial will now move to closing arguments. Following those, Senior District Judge Barbara Walther will read the charge, or instructions, to the jury and they will begin deliberating Renfroe's guilt or innocence. The trial resumes at 9 a.m. Friday morning in the Tom Green County Courthouse.
For more about this trial, see:
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