Double life sentence for North Texas man who killed 3 in summer 2023 robberies
A North Texas man who killed three people in the course of two separate robbery attempts in 2023 received two life prison sentences on Jan. 7, the Tarrant County district attorney said.
Labertrand Bell, 20, admitted to killing two 19-year-old men in the course of a marijuana deal in Fort Worth on July 19, 2023, and later killing a 45-year-old man at a gambling party in Forest Hill weeks later.
Bell avoided the possibility of the death penalty by accepting a plea deal on capital murder charges. Tarrant County prosecutors were seeking capital punishment in the case before Bell pleaded guilty.
The July 2023 incident when Bell killed the two 19-year-old men occurred at a house in the 2800 block of Lulu Street.
The victims, Jesus Rodriguez and Manuel Guzman, were hanging out at the house and smoking marijuana as Guzman tried to find a buyer for the remaining drugs, the Star-Telegram previously reported.
That buyer was Bell, according to an arrest warrant affidavit in the case.
Bell went into the house, looked at the product, and then went outside to his car to get money, detectives wrote. When Bell returned, he attempted to rob Guzman of the marijuana and the two became involved in a gunfight.
Detectives used surveillance video of the vehicle and GPS tracking of Bell required as a condition of his bond in another case to identify him as the suspect in the killing, police said.
Weeks later on Aug. 7, Bell shot and killed 45-year-old Corey Wallace Sr. in his home in the 3100 block of Old Hickory Trail in Forest Hill. Wallace was hosting a gambling night at the home, and Bell was in attendance with two other suspects, relatives told the Star-Telegram.
One of the suspects was first to pull a gun on a relative of Wallace’s, the victim’s family said.
After that, Wallace also pulled a gun in an attempt to defend the relative. Two suspects fired at him and Bell shot him in the back.
Bell was arrested on Aug. 13, 2023, at a house in Fort Worth.
One of his co defendants in the killing of Wallace, 21-year-old Darieon Williams is scheduled to accept or decline a plea offer in the case in June, according to Tarrant County court records. The other codefendant, 20-year-old Artis Womack, has a motions hearing scheduled in his case in April. Williams and Womack are charged with capital murder.
