Thread: Opening statements slated in Gomez-Garcia trial in Colorado

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 34,00.html

Opening statements slated in Gomez-Garcia trial
By Rocky Mountain News
September 6, 2006

Jury selection is expected to wrap up this morning and opening statements will follow in the trial of accused cop killer Raul Gomez-Garcia.

Gomez-Garcia is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Denver police officer Donald Young and the wounding of his partner, Detective John Bishop.

The shooting took place in May of last year when the officers turned Gomez-Garcia away from an invitation-only party.

After the shooting, Gomez-Garcia fled to Mexico where he later was arrested and brought back to stand trial.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com

Young's widow readies for trial
By Sue Lindsay, Rocky Mountain News
September 2, 2006

Kelly Young's heart breaks when she hears her 6-year-old daughter tell her friends why her father is dead.

"My dad died because he was a policeman," she matter-of-factly tells her friends.

Her explanation gives comfort to her young pals, who are assured their own daddies are safe because they aren't police officers, Young said.

Raul Gomez- Garcia goes on trial next week in the killing of Denver police officer Donald "Donnie" Young and wounding his partner, detective John Bishop.

Kelly Young says she both dreads and looks forward to an end to the criminal proceedings.

"All of a sudden regular life is on hold again," she said. "But I'm glad it's finally happening so we can get through it and get on."

But, she says, her grief for her husband is never ending.

"The pain doesn't go away," she said. "It just becomes more bearable. Even after the trial is over, it won't make us miss Donnie any less. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about him and what happened."

A year ago Mother's Day, Mexican immigrant Gomez-Garcia outraged Denver by killing one of its police officers.

In the process, he unwittingly became a poster child for toughening immigration laws.

The two officers were shot May 8, 2005, while working off-duty security at a private baptismal party at Salon Ocampo, 1733 West Mississippi Ave. Four young men tried to enter the invitation-only party and were turned away.

Gomez-Garcia, 21, was one of them.

He was escorted out of the party by Young, who told his partner afterward that he regretted grabbing Gomez-Garcia by the neck.

Gomez-Garcia fumed in his car with friends before he returned to the club a short time later and shot Young three times in the back, prosecutors said. One shot ripped through Young's heart and lungs.

Gomez-Garcia's wife and friends told police he confessed his crime to them before fleeing to California from Denver with the help of Jaime Arana del Angel, 28.

Once in California, Gomez-Garcia fled to Mexico where he was arrested June 4 after an international manhunt.

Arana del Angel, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for helping Gomez-Garcia, will testify against his friend during the trial.

Gomez-Garcia's own statements to law enforcement and others implicating himself in the murder also will play a central role in the case.

He told officers who arrested him in Mexico that he shot the officers because they kicked him out of a party and that he hoped Young was the one who died because Young had choked him.

Gomez-Garcia's public defenders lost a court battle to keep the statement from being used during the trial.

Public defenders Fernando Freyre and Michael Vallejos have filed a laundry list of possible defenses including self-defense.

During earlier hearings, Freyre has argued that police failed to pursue other suspects and forced Gomez-Garcia's wife and friends to implicate him by threatening them with their illegal immigration status.

For Kelly Young the hardest part will be having to sit in the courtroom with her husband's accused killer.

"In the very beginning, I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt because he was so young." she said. "But he's very arrogant. He's just a punk. It's almost like it's a notch in his bedpost, that he's proud of what he did. He has no idea what he has taken away from us and what he has put people through."

lindsays@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5181

http://www.rockymountainnews.com

Cop recounts deadly attack
Officer says he was hit, then watched friend, partner fall

By Sue Lindsay, Rocky Mountain News
September 7, 2006

The party was winding down when three loud bangs - gunshots that would claim the life of his partner, Denver police officer Donald "Donnie" Young - pierced the night air.

"These noises came out of nowhere," Denver Detective Jack Bishop told a jury Wednesday, taking the stand on the first day of one of Denver's most anticipated trials in years.

Bishop and Young were working together, both off-duty, at the Salon Ocampo, a banquet hall at 1755 W. Mississippi Ave., on May 8, 2005, when a baptismal party turned violent.

Police say Raul Gomez-Garcia, angry because the officers had escorted him out of the celebration, returned and shot the officers as they were turned away from him.

"I had a sharp pain in my back," said Bishop, who was wounded. "I didn't know what it was. I looked to the left and that's when I saw Detective Donald Young grab his head."

Bishop said Young spun around and instantly collapsed.

"I saw blood coming out of his head," Bishop said, his voice breaking as he struggled to control his emotions. Bishop said he drew his gun and ran out of the hall but didn't see anyone.

Bishop radioed, "Officer down!" as police converged on the scene.

Officers working security across the street were already in pursuit of a gunman they saw flee the hall.

"I chose to go back to Donnie," Bishop said. "In my mind, that was the correct choice. I went back to see what I could do for Donnie. I didn't know how many times he was shot. I knew it was bad. When you take a round in the head, it's bad."

Young was shot in the head and chest and died from a bullet that ripped through his heart and lungs.

A bulletproof vest Bishop was wearing saved his life.

Members of Young's family, including his widow, Kelly Young, sat in a packed courtroom and wept softly as Bishop recounted the horror.

Police say that three men were with Gomez-Garcia when he tried to gain entry to the invitation-only party several hours earlier.

Gomez-Garcia, 21, was the most persistent and belligerent of the group, Bishop said.

Words were exchanged and Young escorted the four out of the hall, taking Gomez-Garcia by the neck.

Later, Bishop said, Young, whom he called the "patient one," told him, "I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have grabbed him by the neck."

Bishop said he had never seen Young lay a hand on anyone in the two years they had worked security together at the hall.

Prosecutors said Gomez-Garcia fumed about the incident, telling friends he planned to go back to the hall and shoot the officer.

At about 1 a.m., prosecutor Tom Clinton said, that's exactly what he did.

"Detective Young was bushwhacked," Clinton told the jury during opening statements. "Wounded pride brings us here. One man did come back with vengeance."

Clinton said Gomez-Garcia confessed his crimes to his common- law wife and friends before fleeing to California and then Mexico, leading police on a monthlong international manhunt.

When he was arrested in Mexico on June 4, 2005, Gomez-Garcia told a U.S. marshal that he hoped Young was the officer he had killed, Clinton said.

There is no question that Gomez-Garcia is guilty, Clinton contended.

"He started off saying he would do it, then he said, 'I did it' to a friend and loved ones. Then, in the desert in Mexico, he wanted to make sure he got the right one," Clinton said.

Because of an extradition agreement with Mexican authorities, Gomez-Garcia has been charged with second-degree murder, instead of first-degree murder.

But defense attorney Michael Vallejos said Gomez-Garcia only acted recklessly and should be convicted on a lesser charge of manslaughter.

After the shooting, Vallejos said, Gomez-Garcia told his wife, "I'm sorry, forgive me. I'm the one who did it. I didn't shoot to kill him. I wanted to scare him."

Couple of more articles. There are also videos available at both links.

http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/local_ ... 65306.html

Sep 6, 2006 2:50 pm US/Mountain

Widow To Attend Every Day Of Gomez-Garcia Trial

Rick Sallinger
Reporting



(CBS4) DENVER Opening statements got underway Wednesday in the trial of Raul Gomez-Garcia who is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Denver police officer Donnie Young.

Young and Officer Jack Bishop were working off-duty as security guards when they were shot.

Kelly Young, Officer Young's widow, said she would be at the trial every day and wanted to make sure there was a major police presentation to show the type of officer Young was.

"We're the voice and the face of Donnie ... to show he's got a loving family," Kelly said. "It's important to see that he had a family and that act took somebody very important away from us."

Kelly said it was tough to see her husband's accused killer in court because she said his presence was "arrogant." She tried to give Gomez-Garcia the benefit of the doubt when she first saw him and tried to believe he was just nervous.

"But he's not," Kelly said. "He almost gives me the feeling he is proud of what he did which really just breaks my heart."

Gomez-Garcia won't face the death penalty because the District Attorney's office chose to charge him with second-degree murder to speed extradition from Mexico, where he was eventually arrested.

"I think he deserves the death penalty," Kelly said. "He deserves life in prison, but I'm happy with the decision that we made because it was more important to me to get him back here from Mexico and face the justice system."

Kelly said the trial is going to be tough but the support of her family and friends will help her.

Gomez-Garcia is also charged with attempted murder in the shooting of Officer Bishop.


http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/local_ ... 72820.html

Sep 7, 2006 5:29 am US/Mountain

Trial Begins For Gomez-Garcia, Bishop Testifies
By Jon Sarche, AP Writer
(AP) DENVER A Denver police detective testified that his partner in an off-duty security job was shot from behind as he watched and "instantly collapsed" as blood flowed from his head near the end of a party they were working at in May 2005.

Detective John "Jack" Bishop, whose bulletproof vest stopped a bullet that hit him in the back, testified through tears that it was "like slow motion" when Detective Donald Young was spun around by the force of the shots fired by an unseen assailant behind them.

He told a Denver District Court jury that he ran to the front doors to try to find the person who fired the shots, but went back to try to help Young after he couldn't see the gunman.

Bishop was the first witness prosecutors called in the second-degree murder trial of Raul Gomez-Garcia, 20, who also faces charges of attempted first-degree murder and assault in a shooting that prosecutor Tom Clinton described as an ambush.

Bishop testified that Gomez-Garcia became angry and exchanged harsh words with Young, who had used force to escorted him out of the building where the party was held hours before the shooting.

Gomez-Garcia, who was arrested in Mexico following a massive manhunt that spanned several states about a month after the killing.

When Gomez-Garcia was arrested in Mexico, Clinton said he asked a U.S. marshal which of the two he killed.

"Words to the effect `I hope it was the one that grabbed me by the neck,"' Clinton said during his opening statement. "Wounded pride brings us here."

Gomez-Garcia sat impassively during opening statements and during Bishop's testimony, wearing a white shirt and khaki pants and listening to an interpreter's translation.

Young's widow, Kelly Young, appeared to cry as Bishop described the shooting, and several people in the gallery also were heard to be crying.

Young was shot three times, once in the head and twice in the chest. One bullet pierced his heart and lungs, Clinton told jurors.

Bishop testified that several hours before the shooting, he and Young turned away Gomez-Garcia and several other men who tried to get into the party without an invitation.

Young returned to their post and said "I shouldn't have done that, I shouldn't have grabbed him by his neck," Bishop testified.

During a preliminary hearing in April, police testified that Young had grabbed Gomez-Garcia by the neck and arm as he escorted him away from the party. Gomez-Garcia used an expletive and called Young a racist, Detective Martin Vigil testified during the April hearing.

Bishop testified that he and Young didn't talk about the incident the rest of the night. He realized they were being shot at when he heard several loud "bangs," felt a sharp pain in his back and saw Young fall.

Earlier, Clinton told the jury of six men and eight women, which includes two alternate jurors, that after Gomez-Garcia and his three friends left the party, he met some friends at a pool hall and told them he wanted to return and shoot the two men he thought were security officers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, one man from that group ... came back with a vengeance, and it was this man right here, Raul Gomez-Garcia," Clinton said.

Defense attorney Michael Vallejos told the jury that Gomez-Garcia does not contest that he shot Young and Bishop, and that he was not acting in self-defense. But he said Gomez-Garcia never intended to kill, he only wanted to scare them. He believed both were wearing bulletproof vests, Vallejos said.

"What he did was not murder," Vallejos said. "He didn't knowingly cause death. What he did was reckless."

In June, Jaime Arana-Del Angel, 28, was sentenced to a maximum 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to accessory charges. He was accused of helping Gomez-Garcia hide evidence and flee after the shooting.

Gomez-Garcia's trial is expected to end next week.