Gilbert shot the 23-year-old escort in the neck on Christmas Eve 2009. She was paralysed in hospital for seven months before dying from medical complications.
Charged with a murder sentence, Gilbert had been facing life imprisonment.
The defence team said that Gilbert was justified in his actions because the prostitution was just a scam to take his money and that he didn’t intend to kill Frago, according to the Associated Press.
In Texas, residents are allowed to use deadly force to recover property during a night time theft. The prosecutors argued that the law was to protect law abiding citizens, not for people trying to force others into prostitution.
While paralysed in hospital, Frago had been dependent on a respirator. She had suffered brain damage when the respirator had disconnected a few months after she was shot.
Frago’s brother cried in the trial as he recounted the moment her family decided to switch off her life support.
Neurologist Augusto Parra also disagreed with the defence that her death was not Gilbert’s fault. “When you are bedridden like her – with mechanical support, with tubes for feeding – these patients are prone … to have complications,” he said. “She was in this situation because she was shot.”
Before the shooting, Gilbert had confronted Frago’s driver about her taking the money but refusing to have sex. Frago’s driver, Christopher Perkins, who described himself as her manager, said that the fee did not guarantee sex.
Perkins had been waiting outside Gilbert’s home when Gilbert confronted him with an assault rifle. As Perkins and Frago drove away from the apartment, Gilbert fired his gun at the car and one of the bullets hit Frago.
Video YouTube/FOX San Antonio
