BEAUMONT, Texas — A Texas appeals court has upheld the conviction of a Port Arthur man who received a 46-year sentence for the 2019 death of another man following a disturbance at a Beaumont pizza place.
Marvin Pettway, of Port Arthur, was convicted of murder for the shooting death of Jesse Rodriguez along Dowlen Rd beneath the Eastex Freeway overpass after the two were involved in a disturbance a tthe CiCi's Pizza not far away from the scene of the shooting.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The above video first aired in June 2022.)
Pettway appealed his conviction to the Texas Court of Appeals for the Ninth District of Texas claiming that there was insufficient evidence against him to support a conviction.
The appeals court disagreed and on Wednesday released their opinion upholding his conviction.
After examining all the evidence, including video that the jury saw during the trial, the appeals court wrote in its opinion that a rational person could look at the evidence and conclude that Pettway had committed the murder.
What happened?
The fatal shooting happened under the Eastex Freeway overpass at Dowlen Road near Parkdale Mall on Saturday afternoon, August 17, 2019. Police said at the time that the shooting happened after a “disturbance” in Cici’s Pizza located in the 5800 block of Eastex Freeway.
Pettway and Rodriguez "interacted" inside the restaurant. Police said calling the disturbance an altercation "would be a stretch," according to file stories.
During his trial prosecutors said everything started when Rodriguez bumped Pettway's chair inside the pizza restaurant.
Rodriguez left the restaurant and was followed by Pettway and the three other suspects. Witnesses at the scene told police the four suspects were seen getting into a black Ford Fusion, according to file stories.
Witnesses told investigators there were multiple gunshots from the inside of the Ford Fusion. Rodriguez was shot in the head while stopped at a traffic light and died in the hospital.
Pettway was arrested two days after the shooting took place thanks to a Crime Stoppers tip.