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Last trial stemming from 2021 Eagle Lake and Columbus double-murder
The final chapter in a long, drawn-out saga has finally come to a close, with the last man involved in the 2021 Eagle Lake and Columbus double murders given a 45-year sentence for two separate charges last Wednesday afternoon, May 21.
25-year-old Eagle Lake man Ethan Lee Dulany heard his fate after finally reaching the trial docket following years of postponement, being the last person to go to trial for the shooting death of Keaton D. Hancock.
25th District Judge William D. Old III resided over the trial after overseeing Dulany’s accomplices’ trials last year, Cairo Ruvalcaba Jr. and Joey Casanova, who are both serving their sentences for their respective verdicts. Dontrae Johnson, Dante Larenz Stevens, Daegan Mendoza, Casanova and Ruvalcaba Jr. were the other parties involved in the shootings and already had trials held, all being sentenced last year, with Dulany being the final person left on the docket connected to the two killings.
Dulany was arrested on Sept. 24, 2021, in Sinton after a warrant was put out for his arrest following the shooting of Hancock two weeks prior. He was on the docket originally for four separate charges, aggravated assault discharging a firearm, murder, aggravated robbery and theft of property and firearm.
The first charge to go to trial, the aggravated robbery charge, saw Dulany unable to convince jurors of his innocence, being handed down a 15-year sentence.
Dulany
After receiving the first of what could have potentially been four separate sentences, Dulany opted to plead guilty to the murder charge and was given a 30-year sentence as a result.
Due to his convictions for the aggravated robbery and murder charges, his other charges were taken into consideration in regard to any bias that could be held as a result of his sentences.
Dulany was spared a life sentence due to his more limited involvement unlike Casanova and Stevens, who were both handed down life sentences for both playing larger roles in the death of Hancock and Jonathan Segura respectively.
At approximately 2:04 a.m. on Sept. 10, 2021, a drive-by shooting took place in Columbus that left one man, Hancock, dead. Just one hour later at 3:04 a.m. that same night, a second drive by took place at the 500 Block of Stephens St. in Eagle Lake that left another man, Segura, dead.
Colorado County District Attorney Jay Johannes, who oversaw all the cases in this saga as the prosecutor, says he felt that ultimately justice was served, and that the tragedies are all in the past now.
“It’s a relief that these cases are behind us now,” said Johannes. “And the defendants are off of our streets.”
