A Decade After Strangling Dallas Man During Robbery, Killer Gets Life in Prison

Nearly 10 years after the body of a Dallas man was found in the trunk of his car at an abandoned Collin County gas station, the first of three suspects in his death to go to trial failed to convince a jury that the strangling was accidental.Mitchell Conrad Jones, 36, was found guilty Thursday of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison for the death of 49-year-old Richard Robinson.Police found Robinson's 2001 Hyundai in Melissa just a few hours after his family reported him missing July 27, 2009.Authorities interviewed two women who had texted Robinson before his death, Stacy Johnson and Jasmine Salaz, but the case soon went cold. Last year, a Texas Ranger reviewed old case records and tracked Jones — Johnson's boyfriend — to Louisiana. After he spoke with police, authorities arrested him, Johnson and Salaz on capital murder charges.In court this week, Jones said that Johnson manipulated him into helping her and Salaz rob Robinson. The trio lured Robinson to the Dallas home Jones and Johnson shared, he testified. After Jones attacked Robinson, they searched him and his car for money — which they needed to feed Johnson's two sons, Jones testified — and drugs.  Continue reading...