by | Published
SAN ANTONIO - A San Antonio man already sentenced to life without parole for killing a fellow inmate received another life sentence Friday for the 2017 beating death of José Gustavo Hernandez outside Haven for Hope.
Shandrick Buckley was sentenced Oct. 2 in the 226th District Court after being found guilty of murdering Hernandez. The judge ordered the new life sentence to run consecutively to Buckley's sentence in the separate capital murder case.
Hernandez was attacked outside the Haven for Hope shelter on Aug. 9, 2017.
Surveillance video showed Hernandez walking toward the shelter entrance when Buckley followed him, according to the Bexar County District Attorney's Office. Prosecutors said Buckley attacked Hernandez without provocation, punching him and knocking him to the ground before repeatedly stomping on him.
Buckley then walked away.
Hernandez was discovered minutes later severely injured and unresponsive. He was taken to University Hospital, where he remained on life support for several weeks.
Hernandez died from his injuries on Aug. 28, 2017.
The murder case remained unresolved in court for years while Buckley faced another homicide prosecution stemming from a killing that occurred while he was incarcerated.
Bexar County records show Buckley was indicted in 2019 on a charge of capital murder while incarcerated for murder. That indictment accused him of killing Alexander Wise on May 30, 2019, using his hands and feet.
Buckley was recently convicted in that case and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the District Attorney's Office. Under Texas law, capital murder can carry a sentence of life without parole or death.
With Friday's ruling, Buckley's life sentence for Hernandez's murder will not begin until the sentence in the capital murder case has been served.
Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Raul Jordan and Nick Mahrou prosecuted the Hernandez case, with assistance from victim advocate Brandy Jimenez and investigator Jorge Felan.
