Secrecy shrouds cartel slaying in El Paso

by Adriana M. Chávez \ El Paso Timeselpasotimes.com
Posted: 07/08/2012 11:24:54 AM MDT

Reporter
Adriana M. Chávez

Three years ago, El Paso saw its first cartel-related killing since the drug wars in Juárez began escalating in 2008.

Five people, including a 16-year-old boy and a Fort Bliss soldier, were arrested in the May 2009 death of José Daniel Gonzalez-Galeana, 37, in East El Paso.

Since then, charges have been dismissed against one, while the remaining four are still awaiting trial. Court records pertaining to the case, which has been dubbed the Pony Trail murder, have either been sealed by state district judges, shrouded in secrecy or remain stagnant.

A spokeswoman with the El Paso District Attorney's Office said only that the cases are still pending and declined to comment further.

In 2010, District Attorney Jaime Esparza confirmed he was seeking the death penalty against two defendants, former Army Pfc. Michael Jackson Apodaca, 21, and Ruben Rodriguez-Dorado, 33, who are charged with capital murder.

Rodriguez-Dorado had been scheduled to attend a court hearing on June 27, but coming hearings no longer appear on the El Paso County criminal records website.

Apodaca's trial had been scheduled to begin in April 2011, but it never took place. No new trial date has been set and state District Judge Gonzalo Garcia has sealed several records relating to the case. Apodaca's attorneys at the El Paso County Public Defender's Office declined to comment, citing a court-issued gag order.

The trial of a third defendant, Christopher Duran, 20, had been scheduled to begin in February, but it also did not take place and a new trial date has not been set. He is also charged with capital murder but is not facing the death penalty.
Duran's attorney, Tom Hughes, couldn't be reached for comment. Rodriguez-Dorado's attorney had been listed as Russell Aboud, but a woman who answered the phone at Aboud's office Thursday said Aboud no longer represents Rodriguez-Dorado.

Gonzalez-Galeana was a mid level member of the Juárez drug cartel who also worked as an informant for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, police said at the time of his death.

He was shot at least eight times in front of his home on Pony Trail Drive in East El Paso. Apodaca, who was 18 at the time of his arrest, is accused of being the shooter, while Rodriguez-Dorado and a 16-year-old boy are accused of being part of a surveillance team watching Gonzalez-Galeana.

The boy, now an adult, is also awaiting trial, but officials with the El Paso County Attorney's Office have declined to release his name because he was a juvenile when the crime was committed.

Jesus Aguayo Salas, the alleged midlevel cartel lieutenant accused of ordering the murder, is thought to be in Mexico and has not been arrested. Duran has been identified as the alleged getaway driver in the shooting.

Police have said Juárez cartel members assigned Rodriguez-Dorado, also an alleged ICE informant, to find and kill Gonzalez-Galeana because they believed he was cooperating with the U.S. government or had joined a rival criminal organization.

At the time of the shooting, Gonzalez-Galeana lived in a home that was next to the rear of police Chief Greg Allen's house.

Police said that Gonzalez-Galeana owned a trucking business and permanently moved to El Paso on a visa from ICE, but that he didn't give up his role as a midlevel cartel boss coordinating drug shipments.

Prosecutors dropped charges against a fifth man originally charged in the murder, Orlando Rafael Benavente, because of insufficient evidence. Police had accused Benavente of being a lookout for the group.

Adriana M. Chávez may be reached at achavez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6117. Follow her on Twitter @AChavezEPTimes.

Secrecy shrouds cartel slaying in El Paso - El Paso Times