HOUSTON — Larry Woodruffe was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of capital murder in the 2018 shooting death of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes.
The trial for Woodruffe started Tuesday and closing arguments wrapped up early Friday morning. It took the jury only a few hours to deliberate and decide on a guilty verdict.
Jazmine's mother LaPorsha Washington walked out of the courtroom with tears in her eyes after the verdict was announced.
She said she was very proud of the decision the jury made and she can now move on with this chapter in her life.
"I am so grateful to them," Washington said of the jury. "I thank them so much because they put their lives at risk for me and my family."
Although grateful, Washington still mourns for the mother whose son will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
“No matter if it was the same way I lost mine, she lost her baby, and I don’t wish that on nobody," Washington said. "But everybody is deserved a peace of mind to this action and my baby girl didn’t deserve that.”
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg had this to say of the guilty verdict:
“The death of little Jazmine Barnes devastated our entire community, and everyone connected to this case worked very long and very hard to ensure her killers were brought to justice."
Woodruffe was one of two men charged with capital murder in Jazmine Barnes' death. The other suspect, Eric Black, has already pleaded guilty in exchange for his testimony against Woodruffe.
“[Eric Black] saw it as an opportunity to save his own skin,” the defense attorney said during closing arguments. “He’s testifying, not out of respect to that family. He is testifying to save himself. That’s all.”
A judge will determine his sentence at a later date, which has been capped at 35 years in prison.
WATCH BELOW: Jazmine Barnes' mother speaks after guilty verdict reached in
Jazmine Barnes shooting
Jazmine was shot and killed on Dec. 30, 2018, after a bullet struck her in the head while she was riding in the car with her family. Woodruffe shot at Jazmine's family's vehicle, thinking he was shooting at a car with people he had argued with at a club the night before.
Instead, it was Jazmine, her mother and three sisters. Jazmine was hit in the head as she sat behind the driver’s seat. Her mom, LaPorsha Washington, was shot in the arm and her 15-year-old sister was injured when the window shattered. The two other sisters in the car weren't hurt.
At the beginning of the investigation, a sketch of a White man driving a red pickup truck was shown on several news media outlets and websites based on the description from Washington's 15-year-old daughter.
That information mobilized a movement and the search for a suspected child killer. Some activities, politicians and others said they believed the shooting was a racially motivated hate crime.
"The only reason that the White man was identified is because, like I said on the stand, that was the last car that we'd seen out there. That's the only reason we said that about the man and his truck because there was nobody else to identify," said Jazmine's sister Alexis Dilbert.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office retracted the sketch following the confession from Black.
Black admitted he was driving with Woodruffe the day of the murder.
"Larry woodruff half climbed out of the passenger window and shot at Jazmine Barnes thinking it was a crew of other guys," the prosecutor in this case said. "He killed a 7-year-old kid, he nearly killed a 6-year-old kid."
Who was Jazmine Barnes
Jazmine was laid to rest nine days after she was murdered.
Jazmine was a second-grader at Sheldon ISD's Monahan Elementary. During her funeral, the superintendent spoke about her dreams of becoming a teacher.
"I tell you, I would've hired her on the spot...that says so much about Jazmine and her character. She was truly a loving child who wanted to give back as a servant, as a teacher."
Mayor Sylvester Turner also spoke at the service proclaimed Jan. 8, 2019 as "Jazmine Barnes Day" in the City of Houston.
This breaking story will be updated throughout the day.