Man charged alongside Grand Prairie’s Zephi Trevino gets 25 years for 2019 fatal robbery

A man charged alongside Grand Prairie’s Zephi Trevino in a 2019 robbery and deadly shooting was sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday, court records show.

Philip Aguilera Baldenegro, 24, pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated robbery in connection with the killing of Carlos Murillo, according to court documents. He will serve the sentences concurrently, court records show.

Aguilera was the last of the three people arrested in Murillo’s death to be sentenced, and the judgment against him ends the high-profile case that has spanned nearly six years. Celebrity activism thrust the case into the national spotlight when stars like Jamie Lee Curtis and Kim Kardashian denounced the charges levied against Zephaniah “Zephi” Trevino, whose family said she was a victim of sex trafficking. Trevino was 16 at the time of the shooting, but a judge certified her to be tried in adult court.

Aguilera’s attorney, David Finn, told The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday that Trevino masterminded the robbery and made up the victimization accusation. Finn called the case a “long, drawn out legal saga.”

Trevino pleaded guilty in 2023 and is serving a 12-year sentence. A third person, Jesse Martinez, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more than 18 years in prison.

Finn said the shooting was a “robbery that went horribly wrong,” and Aguilera was defending Trevino when a gun went off. Aguilera immediately took responsibility for the shooting, Finn said.

“He accepts responsibility, he knows this is terrible and he feels for the victims family,” the attorney said. He added: “He didn’t run, he didn’t lie, he didn’t hide.”

Aguilera’s lawyer did not immediately return a phone call, and a spokeswoman for the Dallas County district attorney’s office declined to comment.

Murillo was killed the afternoon of Aug. 3, 2019, after he and another man were lured to a Grand Prairie apartment by Trevino, who was in a relationship with Aguilera, police have said. According to testimony described in an appeals court ruling, Aguilera texted Trevino, “Let me know when you are ready and I’m going to pop out.”

He and Martinez then attacked the men at gunpoint, forcing them to take off their clothes and hand over their phones and wallets, a detective testified. The men were shot fighting back against their robbers, police said, and Murillo died at a hospital.

All three were arrested on suspicion of capital murder, but a grand jury indicted Trevino for murder. Capital murder carries the possibility of life in prison without the possibility of parole or death, while murder has a punishment range of five years up to life in prison.