West Texas Man Convicted Of Two Killings Getting New Trial

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A West Texas judge will learn the next steps toward justice for a man released on bond last week after the state ordered a new trial on charges he killed two people as a teenager.

The defense attorney and prosecutors of Daniel Villegas (vee-YAY'-gahs) will meet with the judge Tuesday in El Paso.

Villegas was sentenced in 1995 to life imprisonment in the deaths of teens Armando Lazo and Robert England during a drive-by shooting in northeastern El Paso.

Villegas was released after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Villegas granted him a new trial. His attorney Joe Spencer has argued his client received ineffective defense counsel at trial. Spencer says he believes prosecutors lack evidence to retry his client. The El Paso County district attorney's office has declined comment.

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