TX Used Car Dealer Found Guilty of Repo Murder

Groveton, TX – February 20, 2025 – It only took the jury 4 hours to determine the fate of the 75-year-old man accused of murder. Now facing the short remainder of his life in prison, the used car dealer’s decision to carry out repossessions on his own has come at a far greater cost than hiring a pro.

Back in July of 2020, the Trinity Police Department, responded to a disturbance at 2016 South Robb Street at approximately 10:45 am. Upon arrival, they found 51-year-old Huntsville resident James Brown suffering from gunshot wounds.

Brown was later pronounced deceased at the Huntsville Memorial Hospital.

Arrested at the scene was then 71-year-old Robert Marze, also from Huntsville. Marze, a used car lot owner claimed that he was trying to repossess a vehicle that he had found when the shooting occurred after a scuffle with the victim.

TX Used Car Dealer Found Guilty of Repo Murder — 75-year-old Robert Marze

Following a first trial that ended in a hung jury, due to confusing jury instructions, Marze went back to trial on Thursday the 13^th and according to the DA,

However, according to Trinity County District Attorney Bennie Schiro, the evidence did not support Marze’s version of events, to which the jury agreed.

Following four hours of deliberation, the jury returned with a guilty verdict on the charge of first-degree felony murder. The charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Marze is being held in Walker County Jail awaiting sentencing, as well as on a related charge of bribery. DA Schiro reported that Marze also allegedly tried to bribe Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace with $10,000 to make the case go away on a previous occasion.

EDITORS NOTE

Time and time again we hear stories of used car dealers running afoul with the law when conducting their own repossessions and often with fatal results. How this remains legal in this day and age is indeed puzzling. Professionals hire professionals and with life and death on the line, repossessions should never be conducted by anyone other than one. Just my two cents.

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