McKinney man gets life without parole in planned drug-deal murder

A Collin County jury convicted Donte Murry, 26, of capital murder and Judge Kimberly Laseter then imposed the automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, closing a case that prosecutors said began as a planned drug deal and ended in a killing on a McKinney street.

The shooting happened about 2 p.m. on April 28, 2024, near N. Jordan Road and Woodberry Lane. McKinney police found a 23-year-old man dead inside a white car after gunfire broke out. Prosecutors said Murry and the victim had arranged a drug transaction that escalated into an armed robbery and exchange of shots.

Investigators tied the case together with physical and digital evidence. Police recovered a .45-caliber shell casing from the victim’s vehicle and later matched it to a handgun found in Murry’s backpack. They also found the victim’s stolen firearm and marijuana in the car, evidence prosecutors said fit the robbery theory presented to the jury.

McKinney police tracked Murry through muddy footprints to a nearby home, where McKinney Police Department SWAT helped arrest him. Prosecutors said Murry first lied in a recorded interview with Detective Mark Brydges before admitting the meeting involved a drug deal and that he intended to rob the victim. Text messages were also shown at trial to support the claim that the robbery had been planned in advance.

Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis praised the police work and the prosecution, saying Murry “planned an armed robbery, murdered the victim, and then tried to cover it up with lies.” Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Mollie Thompson and Ann Mathew handled the case for the state.

The sentence matters because Texas capital murder law carries an automatic life-without-parole penalty when an adult is convicted of capital murder. In a county where prosecutors often stress organized police work and courtroom preparation in homicide cases, the outcome underscored how Collin County courts handled a killing tied to a planned robbery and drug deal rather than an impulsive street dispute.