HOUSTON – Emotions ran high in a Harris County courtroom Monday as the fourth day of testimony unfolded in the manslaughter trial of Tony Earls Jr., who is charged in the 2022 shooting death of 9-year-old Arlene Alvarez.

The trial centers on whether Earls acted recklessly when he fired multiple shots at a truck he and his team say he believed was carrying a robbery suspect fatally hitting Alvarez instead.

Both sides rested their case by Monday evening. Tuesday, we expect closing arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys before the jury deliberate.

Prosecutors rested their case Monday afternoon, and the defense began presenting its own witnesses, including a clinical psychologist and a crime scene reconstructionist, in an effort to reframe Earls’ actions as a traumatic response r

See Full Page