HOUSTON -- The man who shot and killed his neighbor for playing music too loudly was convicted of murder for a second time and sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday.
The sentencing is a huge relief to folks in Raul Rodriguez's old Huffman neighborhood, who told KHOU 11 News they were scared when he got out of jail the first time.
One neighbor KHOU spoke to was a key witness, and he was in court Tuesday to hear Rodriguez will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
"That moment, if I was allowed to yell, I would have. It was an awesome feeling," said neighbor Pete Fornols.
Fornols lives right between the houses where Rodriguez and his victim, Kelly Danahar, once lived, and his testimony helped seal the conviction.
Rodriguez had complained to Fornols about the neighbors making too much noise before, and the night of the murder, he called Pete 13 times, growing angrier and angrier.
"Coming to my front door complaining about the music, asking me again would I go down there with him and shut it down and I told him, 'No, go inside your house and you wouldn't hear,'" Fornols said.
Instead, Rodriguez went next door with his gun and a video camera. In the recordings he took, you can hear Rodriguez yelling right before he pulls the trigger: "Turn that crap down. Turn it down. I asked y'all to turn it down."
Rodriguez claimed self-defense, saying the neighbors lunged at him.
"Look, I'm in fear for my life," Rodriguez says in the recordings. "That's why I drew my weapon. I'm in fear for my life."
But now two juries have disagreed. He recived 40 years in jail the first time, but an appeals court ruled that jury got confusing instructions, so Rodriguez was released and tried again. This time, he's behind bars for life.
"Kelly was like family to us, so he got what he deserved," said the victim's family friend, Norma Wright.
But it can never erase the life Rodriguez took: A young schoolteacher with a wife and daughter.
"The sweetest man that absolutely loved children. It just breaks my heart," neighbor Allyson Johnson said.
Rodriguez's defense attorney said after the sentencing that this second trial was more difficult, because Rodriguez doesn't really have anyone left on his side. Even his family turned to testify against him.
