Bodies of two teens found in Midland in 2018, now murder suspect faces death after guilty verdict

MIDLAND COUNTY, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- On Tuesday, July 2, a Midland County jury found 46-year-old Angel Luis Lebron-Rivera guilty of Capital Murder in connection with the 2015 death of two teens.

The defendant was charged with Capital Murder, the only offense for which the death penalty can be imposed. The trial began April 2nd, 2024, and consumed most of the months of April, May, and June. Cases in which the State seeks the death penalty require a special jury selection process that typically takes considerably longer than the evidence itself at trial. Evidence in the trial began on June 25.

Earlier this week, after deliberating for five hours and 45 minutes, the jury returned the guilty verdict and retired for the evening. The same jury will begin hearing additional evidence before deciding whether Lebron-Rivera will be sentenced to the death penalty or punished by life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The evidence presented in the case showed two teens, 18-year-old Ashley Cruz-Rodriguez and 19-year-old John Iglesia-Alvarez, came to Midland from Puerto R...