A Texas rapper on Monday was convicted of murder for a second time after a jury found him guilty of fatally shooting a San Antonio man in 2017.
Taymor McIntyre faces up to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the killing of 23-year-old Mark Anthony Saldivar.
Prosecutors said that McIntyre shot Saldivar after the rapper tried to rob him. Authorities said McIntyre had picked up Saldivar, who was a photographer, in a car after asking him to take photos of the rapper for a new song.
McIntyre’s attorneys had criticized the police investigation of the shooting, alleging the case relied too much on self-serving statements from witnesses in the car when the shooting happened.
“Taymor McIntyre is not guilty of capital murder, murder, or manslaughter, and the reason for that is very simple,” John Hunter, one of McIntyre’s attorneys, told jurors during closing arguments last week. “You have to do it right. You have to do the work. And this case clearly demonstrates the work wasn’t done.”
The jury found McIntyre not guilty of capital murder, which would have meant a life sentence without the chance of parole. The jury will now hear evidence in the trial’s punishment phase before deciding on a sentence.
McIntyre had already been serving a 55-year sentence after he was convicted in 2019 for the shooting death of 21-year-old Ethan Walker during a home invasion in 2016 in Mansfield, southeast of Fort Worth, Texas.
McIntyre rapped under the name Tay-K and is best known for his 2017 single “The Race,” which he recorded while he was on the run from authorities for the home invasion.