Man given life sentence for gunning down, robbing scrap metal employee
HOUSTON - A man accused of killing a scrap-metal employee back in 2018 has been given a life sentence, the Harris County District Attorney's Office announced.
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Courtney Cortez Hall, 40, was arrested back in March 2020 for robbing Magdaleno Ramos, 40, at the B&M scrap-metal shop along the Eastex Freeway.
Courtney Hall (Photo courtesy of Harris County Jail Records)
It was early in the morning when Ramos arrived at work and was approached by Hall, who threatened him with a gun, shot him, and took his money before running away.
The then-37-year-old Hall was arrested two years later. Several witnesses also testified he was the killer and cell phone data showed he was at the business when the shooting happened and when he ran away.
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As a result, the DA's office said this past Friday he was "automatically" sentenced to life in prison for capital murder without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors described the murder as callous and premeditated.
"This man made a plan to ambush a hardworking member of the community and then gunned him down in cold blood," DA Kim Ogg said in a press statement. "We created our homicide division to handle cases like this — serious cases in which the victim’s family deserves justice."
"[Hall] has no regard for human life," Assistant District Attorney Kathryn Rogers added. "He planned it. He picked his victim and lay in wait, and when the victim arrived at his business, this defendant shot him while his hands were raised and then stole his money."