It is unclear whether the killing of \u00ab\u00a0King of the Hill\u00a0\u00bb voice actor Jonathan Joss will be considered a hate crime.<\/b>
\nA grand jury in Texas has indicted the man accused of killing \u00ab\u00a0King of the Hill\u00a0\u00bb voice actor Jonathan Joss on a murder charge.
But it is unclear whether Joss’ killing will be considered a hate crime. Police in San Antonio did not immediately return an email seeking comment Wednesday on whether its investigation had determined that Joss’ sexual orientation played a role in his shooting, and the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the matter.
Police allege Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez, 57, confronted Joss and his husband on June 1 as they were checking their mail at their San Antonio home, which had been burned down in January.
Joss’ husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, has claimed the person who killed the actor yelled \u00ab\u00a0violent homophobic slurs\u00a0\u00bb before opening fire.
Ceja Alvarez allegedly confessed to officers, saying \u00ab\u00a0I shot him\u00a0\u00bb as he was being detained, according to a police report obtained by CBS affiliate KENS-TV. His attorneys did not immediately return emails seeking comment Wednesday.
In June, Alfonso Otero, one of Ceja Alvarez’s attorneys, said his client was innocent and denied making any homophobic statements.
The grand jury returned the indictment Monday, and Ceja Alvarez remains free on a $200,000 bond.
A friend of the 59-year-old Joss has said that Joss and Ceja Alvarez were neighbors and the two had argued for years. Neighbors told KENS-TV that the two men had previously faced off armed with weapons, but said the confrontations hadn’t turned violent until the shooting.
Initially, San Antonio police had said there was no evidence indicating the shooting was related to Joss’ sexual orientation. But San Antonio Police Chief William McManus later walked back that statement, saying it had been \u00ab\u00a0premature\u00a0\u00bb and that whether Joss’ sexual orientation played a role in the shooting was \u00ab\u00a0part of the investigation.\u00a0\u00bb
The district attorney’s office said in a statement Wednesday that Ceja Alvarez \u00ab\u00a0is charged with murder, which is the most serious charge applicable to this crime under Texas law. As the case is still pending, no additional details or information can be released at this time.\u00a0\u00bb
Under Texas law, a hate crime \u2014 if there’s a conviction \u2014 would be handled as an enhancement during sentencing and not as a separate charge.
Joss was the voice of John Redcorn, a Native American character on the popular \u00ab\u00a0King of the Hill\u00a0\u00bb animated series, which ran for 13 seasons from 1997 to 2008. A reboot of the show, which Joss had already worked on, premiered in August.
Joss also had a recurring role on the television show \u00ab\u00a0Parks and Recreation\u00a0\u00bb, playing Chief Ken Hotate. He appeared in two episodes of the series \u00ab\u00a0Tulsa King\u00a0\u00bb in 2022.<\/p>\n