Jurors watched footage from inside the wounded man’s vehicle before two defendants received life sentences.
HOUSTON, Texas — A federal murder-for-hire case ended in life sentences after jurors watched in-car video of a Katy commuter being shot by mistake during a planned highway attack, prosecutors said.
The camera footage became one of the clearest pieces of evidence in a case that began as a violent morning on Highway 99 and ended with Michael Seery, 43, and Ricardo Obando Jr., 52, sentenced to life in federal prison. Prosecutors said the victim’s own recording system captured the moment gunfire hit his vehicle and the 911 call that followed. The video placed the jury inside the attack while lawyers argued over planning, motive, payments, cell phone records and a homemade weapon equipped with a silencer.
The shooting happened in the early morning of Feb. 4, 2025, as the victim was driving to work on the Grand Parkway. Prosecutors said Obando, riding in another vehicle, fired several rounds into the man’s vehicle. The man survived gunshot wounds to his neck, torso and hand. The in-car recording, later shown during trial, helped investigators and jurors trace what officials said was not road rage, but a planned killing that missed its real target. FBI Houston Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Hudson said the case showed how agencies worked together “to uncover the real plot behind the morning rush hour shooting.”
Federal prosecutors said the wrong man was shot because Seery was relying on bad information about where another person lived. According to trial evidence, Seery wanted to kill a man he believed had an affair with his wife while Seery was in prison. That man had moved out of the residence Seery associated with him. The person who was shot was a Katy man who was simply leaving for work. His name was not released in the main federal announcements. The intended target testified at trial, and Seery’s wife also testified about the affair, which jurors heard had occurred about 12 years before the ambush.
The prosecution described a plot that had been built over months, not a sudden attack. Cell phone evidence showed Obando conducted surveillance before the shooting, prosecutors said. The same evidence also pointed to an earlier failed attempt on the victim’s life. Jurors heard that Seery paid Obando through his business, a detail prosecutors used to show how the alleged hit was financed and hidden. They also saw photographs of firearm parts and guns found at Seery’s home and storage unit. The government said those records, images and phone data tied the old grievance to the morning when the victim’s commute turned into an ambush.
The weapon evidence gave the case another unusual feature. Prosecutors said jurors saw the 3D printer Seery used to manufacture the firearm and silencer that Obando is believed to have used. The government said Obando fired a gun equipped with a silencer while the victim was on Highway 99. Seery had a prior federal conviction and was barred from possessing firearms, prosecutors said in the case. He was later convicted not only of the murder-for-hire counts but also of transferring a firearm to be used in a felony and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Obando was convicted of receiving a firearm to be used in a felony.
The trial lasted eight days. Jurors then deliberated for about two days before convicting Seery and Obando on the main federal counts. Both were convicted of conspiracy to use interstate facilities to commit murder for hire causing bodily injury and aiding and abetting the use of interstate facilities to commit murder for hire causing bodily injury. They were also convicted of aiding and abetting discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and aiding and abetting use of a firearm silencer during and in relation to a crime of violence. U.S. District Judge David Hittner later imposed life sentences on both men.
The verdict was not complete for prosecutors. Matthew Rosas, 25, who had also been charged in the case, was acquitted. Prosecutors had alleged that Rosas drove the vehicle when Obando fired at the victim. Earlier state-court allegations had described the shooting as an apparent road rage case before investigators linked it to a paid attack. By the time the federal case reached trial, prosecutors presented the shooting as the result of surveillance, planned movement and mistaken identity. Jurors accepted that theory against Seery and Obando, but not against Rosas. The acquittal left two men facing life terms while the third defendant avoided conviction in the federal trial.
Defense lawyers tried to break the chain prosecutors built around motive and evidence. Seery’s defense said he was not part of the conspiracy. Obando’s defense disputed the cell phone evidence. Lawyers also questioned whether the government had proved the relationship between the defendants, the victim and the man who was allegedly supposed to be killed. Prosecutors answered with testimony from the intended target and Seery’s wife, along with the phone records, weapon evidence, business-payment evidence and the victim’s recording. The jury’s decision showed it found the case against Seery and Obando strong enough for conviction on the charged counts.
The broader investigation included the FBI, Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety and Katy Police Department, with help from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hunter Brown and Jill Stotts prosecuted the case after a superseding indictment was returned in July 2025. At the time of the indictment, prosecutors said the defendants faced long prison terms if convicted of the murder-for-hire and firearm charges. The life sentences imposed in April 2026 reflected the most serious end of those risks and marked the federal court’s response to a plot that wounded, but did not kill, the wrong man.
The victim survived the highway attack and testified at trial. Seery and Obando remain in custody pending placement in federal prison, and any future challenge to the convictions would move through post-trial filings or appeals in federal court.
Author note: Last updated May 22, 2026.