Houston Man Sentenced to 80 Years for Murder and Carjacking Elderly Couple

Houston Man Sentenced to 80 Years for Murder and Carjacking Elderly Couple
Michael Coates

A Houston man who made headlines for carjacking an elderly couple in Briar Forest and committing a murder on the same day was sentenced to 80 years in prison by a Harris County jury, District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“This was not an isolated incident — this man was intentionally and deliberately using a gun to threaten, steal and kill,” Ogg said. “His actions affected so many people in such terrible ways that the only just resolution is that he spend decades in prison.”

Michael Coates, 21, was convicted of murder for shooting 29-year-old Marcus Mercado during a midday altercation on February 11, 2023, near a convenience store at the 9800 block of Meadowglen Lane.

At about 12:30 p.m., witnesses said Mercado approached Coates near the store where Coates was known to sell drugs, and the two began to argue. Coates then pulled a pistol and shot Mercado three times. Surveillance video showed Mercado falling to the ground, waving his arms, as Coates came closer, stood over him, and shot him three more times in the head.

Coates fled the scene and was caught on video about two hours later in west Houston, pulling a gun on a 75-year-old woman outside her garage and demanding the keys to her car. The woman’s screams prompted her 77-year-old husband to come out of the house. Coates then pointed the gun at the husband, demanding the car keys. The couple handed over the keys, and Coates drove away. The car was found abandoned on a residential street two days later.

Three days after the murder, Coates was involved in another armed robbery, stealing a man’s wallet, car keys, and a backpack containing a laptop computer. The man contacted the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, and investigators tracked the laptop to Coates’ apartment in the 3200 block of Gessner. Deputies executed a search warrant at the apartment and found a Glock 9mm semiautomatic pistol that was identified as the murder weapon used to kill Mercado.

Coates was arrested on March 22, 2023, after police released video of him robbing the elderly couple to solicit the public’s help in apprehending him.

During his murder trial, jurors heard about these additional crimes before determining his punishment. Assistant District Attorney Nancy Ta, a chief in the DA’s trial bureau, and Bryan Honeycutt, a chief in the Major Offenders Division, prosecuted Coates.

“The defendant did this in broad daylight, then ran from the police and later claimed self-defense, which the jury was smart enough to recognize was not true — it was an attempt at an excuse for murder,” Ta said. “And when the jury heard about the other armed robberies, the other victims, and all of the families of the victims who were affected, they made the right decision.”

Coates will be required to serve at least 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.