DENTON, Texas (AP) — An ex-Marine has been convicted in the New Year’s Day 2016 fatal shooting of a University of North Texas student when people in two vehicles argued after a party.
Jurors in Denton on Monday convicted 21-year-old Eric Johnson of murder in the death of 20-year-old Sara Mutschlechner of Martindale. Johnson faces up to life in prison in the penalty phase.
Denton police said people from both vehicles attended the same New Year’s Eve party. An affidavit said the shooting happened when men in an SUV made sexual remarks toward Mutschlechner, who was driving another vehicle, and a female riding with her.
Johnson was later arrested at a Marine Corps facility in Yuma, Arizona, then discharged.
He was associated with an address in Fort Worth, 35 miles south of Denton.