Hector Campos, 48, is charged with murder. The victim, Ana Weed, was fatally shot in the front yard of her home in January 2017. Campos and Weed were next door neighbors.
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Three months after Weed's murder, her family sued Campos for wrongful death. On May 25, a jury awarded them $70 million in damages.
SEE PREVIOUS STORY: Attorneys spar over alleged admission of guilt in Spring neighbor's murder
"For us, it was another way to say her life mattered," Weed's brother, Arnold Aldrete, told ABC13.
Prosecutors have said the shooting was in retaliation because Weed and her family helped Campos' estranged wife and child leave the country. Campos' attorney said it was in self-defense.
Stunning cell phone video from the scene on Mourning Drive shows Weed's husband crouching over her as a man held Campos at bay with a gun. Campos was on the ground with his arms and legs stretched out when deputies arrived.
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The civil trial lasted three days.
"This was a way to show the massive amount of wrongdoing that was done to Ana and to her entire family. It destroyed her family, her mother, her husband, her son, and her brother. They all testified and told the jury what it did to her family," explained lawyer Bill Ogden of Houston-based Farrar & Ball.
The verdict comes just a few weeks before Campos' murder trial is set to start. His criminal defense attorney declined to comment. He has been out of jail on bond for almost the entire time he's been charged.
SEE RELATED STORY: 'Intent to kill': Family says neighbor executed Spring woman out of revenge
"It's time, and we want it to be done with and we want closure and we want this guy to pay for what he's done," Aldrete said.
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