Bar patron robber indicted in Fort Worth officer’s 2018 death pleads guilty to murder
The second of two defendants indicted in connection with the killing of a Fort Worth police criminal intelligence unit officer near a bar in the Worth Heights neighborhood pleaded guilty on Tuesday in the case.
Samuel Mayfield, who had been scheduled to go to trial in early February and had been indicted on capital murder in Officer Garrett Hull’s September 2018 death, pleaded guilty to murder in 396th District Court in Tarrant County.
Judge George Gallagher sentenced Mayfield to 60 years in prison under the terms of a plea offer. Mayfield is 37.
Hull’s widow, Sabrina, and other relatives supported the plea, the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office said.
“With this plea, the family of Officer Garrett Hull can move on knowing they don’t have to relive Garrett’s death,” wrote Tim Rodgers, an assistant criminal district attorney who prosecuted the case, in a statement. “Justice in horrible cases takes many forms and many factors are taken into consideration in deciding what an appropriate plea is.
“In light of Samuel Mayfield’s role in the offenses, and knowing Mayfield will almost certainly never see freedom again without our having to put the Hull family through another jury trial that details how they lost their son, husband and father, this is justice.”
A jury in June found guilty of capital murder another defendant, Timothy Huff, and sentenced him to life in prison without parole
Neither Mayfield nor Huff shot Hull. According to prosecutors, they committed a series of robberies that police were investigating when Hull was slain.
The shooter, Dacion Steptoe, was killed by another officer in an exchange of gunfire.
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On the night of Sept. 13, 2018, Steptoe, Mayfield and Huff robbed patrons of the bar, Los Vaqueros, at gunpoint.
Hull and other officers had been tracking the suspects in connection with multiple robberies across Fort Worth that were growing increasingly violent, according to testimony at Huff’s trial.
When the robbers ran from the bar, Hull’s unit and other officers tracked them through the surrounding neighborhood. Hull chased Steptoe through streets and yards until Steptoe shot at officers and they returned fire. Hull was shot in the head and died at a hospital.
Texas law allows a person to be criminally responsible for the actions of someone else when there was a conspiracy to commit one crime and another felony occurs.
This story was originally published January 17, 2023 at 5:19 PM.
