Lowell Garza Lowell Preston Garza, who was arrested Aug. 17 in connection with the death of his two-month-old daughter Isabella Preslei Garza is to stand trial Monday in 27th District court on a charge of capital murder.

A written autopsy report from the Dallas medical examiner received by Lampasas County Sheriff David Whitis ruled the death a homicide by blunt-force trauma.

Officials from the Lampasas County Sheriff’s Department responded to Metroplex Hospital in Killeen in August after being contacted by hospital personnel about a deceased infant, Whitis said.

The infant was brought to the hospital by her parents for treatment.

As a result of the early investigation, deputies arrested and charged Garza and his wife, Crystal Raquel Garza, both 19 at the time, with injury to a child with the intent of serious bodily injury.

Mrs. Garza posted a $3,500 bond and was released from the Lampasas County Jail on Aug. 21. Her bail was reduced from the original amount of $750,000.

Garza remains in the county jail on a $1 million bond.

The death was investigated by Texas Rangers and the sheriff’s department.

Last October, Garza, now 20, was indicted by the Lampasas County grand jury for capital murder.

Lampasas County District Attorney Larry Allison, who will prosecute the case against Garza with Assistant District Attorney John Greenwood, said the punishment for capital murder is the death penalty or an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Allison said he is not seeking the death penalty in this case, and if convicted, Garza would receive a life sentence without parole.

“There are a lot more capital murder cases being tried as life sentences because of the non-parole eligibility,” said Allison. “It typically can take 10 to 15 years to a possible execution, and that’s a lot of time and expense, and it detracts from the deterrent effect,” he said.

The attorney also said small counties suffer when they are tied up with lengthy death penalty cases because of the time and expense involved.

Allison said he expects the case to last about a week. “It’s a fairly short case, with about six to eight witnesses.” He said the bulk of the prosecution’s testimony will come from the doctor who performed the autopsy at the Dallas Institute of Forensic Sciences.

Garza is represented by Eddie Shell of Marble Falls.