'Halloween robber' gets 99-year sentence from Tarrant jury

Posted Friday, Jul. 13, 2012  Print Reprints
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By Dianna Hunt

dhunt@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH - Halloween robber Pedro Dominguez - who laughed and plotted future crimes after invading a high school costume party - was handed a 99-year sentence Friday by a Tarrant County jury.

The jury in state District Judge Mike Thomas' court deliberated just two hours before handing Dominguez the maximum sentence.

He will be eligible for parole in 30 years.

Dominguez was convicted this week of being one of four gunmen who invaded a Halloween party being held for members of the Arlington school district's gymnastics teams on Oct. 30, 2010. The gunmen posed as partygoers but drew their weapons after the students at the party pressed them to take off their masks.

Nearly 20 students were ordered face down on the floor as the gunmen took their wallets, cellphones, iPods and jewelry. The parents of the party host, Nikki Collins, were also robbed at gunpoint, as were her little brother and his friend.

Another father, Charles Marshall, was pistol-whipped by Dominguez, according to testimony, after arriving to pick up his son.

Prosecutors Brock Groom and Page Simpson presented evidence that Dominguez and the others went back to Dominguez's apartment after the robbery for a celebration party. They laughed, drank and re-enacted the crime for their friends, and even took pictures of themselves in full regalia with guns drawn.

"Keep this community safe," Simpson urged jurors during closing arguments. "Keep him off the streets for as long as possible."

Defense attorney David Bays urged jurors to consider giving Dominguez 20 years in prison, which he said would punish the young man while giving him a chance to rehabilitate himself.

"Your verdict should give him some hope," he said.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Dominguez had already had a long string of prior brushes with the law. As a juvenile, he had been caught with cocaine, shooting at cars with a BB gun, burglarizing cars and houses and carrying to school the same gun that was used in the Halloween robberies. Marshall's blood was still on the gun.

Dianna Hunt, 817-390-7084

Twitter: @DiannaHunt