McManus also clarified that hate crimes aren't separate charges and are addressed as sentencing enhancements in adherence with Texas law.

"We don’t charge with hate crimes. We gather the facts and we give those facts to the district attorney’s office, and that hate crime designation is determined at sentencing, but we don’t charge hate crime," he said.

Alvarez was placed under house arrest after posting on June 2 and barred from possessing any firearms while on release, subject to random drug testing and prohibited from contacting Joss' family. Joss' husband claimed that his killer cackled and spewed a gay slur moments before his murder while speaking to the Independent on June 3.

“Everything was really close range. It was in the head,” said Kern de Gonzalez while discussing the moment Joss was fatally shot.

“While I’m holding him, [the suspect] has the gun pointed over me, and he’s laughing, saying, ‘Oh, you love him? Joto,'” he added. “‘Joto’ is Spanish for f***ot. I never knew the word until I came to Texas, and then I heard it a lot.”

Alvarez was arrested one block away from the scene. Police initially found there was "no evidence" that Joss was killed over his "sexual orientation."

“We take such allegations very seriously and have thoroughly reviewed all available information. Should any new evidence come to light, we will charge the suspect accordingly,” the San Antonio police said in a statement obtained by the New York Post.

Kern de Gonzales shared a lengthy post on his husband's Facebook account claiming he and his husband were "harassed regularly by individuals who made it clear they did not accept our relationship," at their previous house, where the murder took place, and claimed "much of the harassment was openly homophobic." He said they were checking the mail when they noticed the skull of their dog and their dog's harness placed out front of the house, which caused them to begin "yelling and crying," when a man approached them and yelled slurs before opening fire.

"Jonathan and I had no weapons. We were not threatening anyone. We were grieving. We were standing side by side. When the man, fired Jonathan pushed me out of the way. He saved my life," Kern de Gonzales wrote in the Facebook post.

Bret Saunders