Man gets life in prison in fatal shooting of Texas officer

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A man was sentenced to life in prison in the 2018 fatal shooting of an undercover Fort Worth, Texas, police officer, prosecutors said.

A jury on Wednesday gave Timothy Huff, 36, a life sentence without possibility of parole in the death of Garrett Hull, an officer who was promoted to corporal after his death. The Tarrant County jury found Huff guilty of capital murder Monday.

Huff didn’t shoot Hull, but he was one of three men officers were pursuing after a robbery at a bar when Hull was killed, prosecutors said. The group had been robbing bars and police had staked out the area that night, prosecutors said.

After robbing customers, Huff, Dacion Steptoe and Samuel Mayfield ran in different directions when they saw the officers, prosecutors said.

Steptoe fatally shot Hull and another officer killed Steptoe.

Huff and Mayfield were both charged with capital murder. Mayfield’s trial date hasn’t been set.

Huff took the witness stand during his punishment phase, telling jurors he wasn’t aware Hull had been shot that night and he “didn’t intend for it to happen.”

Prosecutor Tim Rodgers told jurors that the violence had escalated in the group’s robberies and that Huff was “dangerous, dangerous, dangerous.”