Fueled by rage, a defense lawyer told a jury Wednesday, a former Monterey County man shot dead his wife and her cousin after a struggle over his gun caused it to fire — a bullet fatally striking his son.
County deputy public defender John Klopfenstein's remarks came during opening statements in the trial of Ramon Esparza Rios, who was sought for about 20 years in the Jan. 6, 1990, shooting deaths of his son, Luis Esparza, 12; his wife, Concepcion Esparza, 36; and his nephew, Jose Hernandez, 23, in the family mobile home on the Silva Ranch off Bitterwater Road, just outside King City.
Rios, 60, has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of his wife and her cousin, and faces second-degree murder in the death of his son. He also faces special allegations of multiple counts of murder and using a firearm during a commission of a felony.
Rios was extradited back to Monterey County after being taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service in November 2010, in Mexico City. The county District Attorney's Office was notified in June 2010 that Mexican authorities had Rios in custody after learning that he may be a wanted suspect for the slayings.
The defendant claims that his son's death had been an accident and that he shot his wife in self-defense after she threatened him with a knife. Klopfenstein told jurors that his client The defendant claims that his son's death had been an accident and that he shot his wife in self-defense after she threatened him with a knife. Klopfenstein told jurors that his client shot Hernandez in the heat of passion, which counts as involuntary manslaughter.
In his opening statements, he shared with jurors what his client is expected to testify later in the trial. Klopfenstein stated that after Rios returned home, he encountered his drunken wife and a man in his home. He said that Rios didn't realize at the time that the man was his wife's cousin. By the time he returned home, Klopfenstein stated, Rios had already consumed half of a 24-pack of beer. Besides bringing home a 12-pack of beer, he said, Rios also had with him a 9-mm handgun he had recently purchased.
His refusal to lend his wife his gun, Klopfenstein said, and the subsequent move by Hernandez to grab it caused a struggle that led to its going off. Hearing a noise from the bedroom, he said, Rios rushed to the bedroom to find his son dead — a death he blamed on his wife and her cousin.
"As a result of this, he was threatened by his wife with a knife and potentially she then put the knife down and grabbed the potato peeler and came at him a second time — both times [she] said: 'I'm going to kill you,' and that's when Mr. Rios [fired the gun]," Klopfenstein said. "All this occurred within seconds of him finding out that his son had been killed for the struggle over the gun ¶. He was in a rage, he was crazy and he was threatened."
Meanwhile, the prosecution seeks to prove that Rios' story does not match with physical evidence found at the scene, as well as witness statements.
Steve Somers, a county deputy district attorney, said that while the death of Rios' son was an accident, it is still considered second-degree murder. Somers briefed jurors on the evidence they can expect during the trial, including testimony by Rios' daughter, who was 18 years old at the time of the killings.
He said Rios' 17-year-old son, who also was present, heard loud voices and sounds of his father beating his mom, stating that "he heard it enough, he recognized it." Somers stated that Rios confronted his son while holding a gun, showing how his wife had cut him with a potato peeler. He said Rios' daughter, who also heard her father beating her mother, came out of her room and asked him to calm down.
Somers told jurors that Rios' daughter also saw him holding a gun while her mom hid in the kitchen before she went back to her room.
Shortly after, he said, gunshots rang out.
"When they both emerged from their bedroom, Orlando ¶ was kind of slumped forward on that bed where he had been; their mother was dead; Jose was dead," Somers said. "Their dad was standing there still holding the gun, saying: 'Oh my God, I killed my son!' Their dad headed out the door, got into his truck and they haven't seen him again for the last 20 years."
No comments:
Post a Comment