21 years given in migrants' deaths
2 in packed truck slain in hail of assault-rifle fire
By Kim Smith
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.23.2008
One of two men who pleaded guilty to attacking a pickup truck filled with illegal immigrants last year, killing two of them, was sentenced to 21 years in prison Monday.
Rosairo Humberto Araujo-Monares pleaded guilty last month to two counts of second-degree murder and could have received as few as 10 years in prison or as many as 44 years.
Araujo-Monares, 22, and Martin Flores-Gaxiola, 19, were indicted in April on two counts of first-degree murder and 21 counts of endangerment.
According to investigators, 23 illegal immigrants and two people-smugglers were in a pickup headed north on Caterpillar Trail about five miles south of Duval Mine Road, west of Green Valley, around 5 a.m. when four men fired at least 70 rounds at them with AK-47 and SKS assault rifles.
Twenty of the rounds struck the pickup, hitting a woman in the cab of the truck and two men in the bed.
The driver continued traveling north until the truck failed a few hundred yards south of Duval Mine Road.
The illegal immigrants who survived the shooting walked to Duval Mine Road carrying the two victims. At 5:10 a.m., a passer-by saw them and called 911.
Antonio Perez-Perez, 30, and his 28-year-old sister-in-law, Consuelo Perez-Roman, both of Chiapas, Mexico, were found dead at Duval Mine Road a few hundred feet from where the truck came to a stop, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said at the time.
A man from Guatemala suffered gunshot wounds to his ankle and torso.
Also in the truck were Perez-Perez's two children and a third child, all of whom were under 10.
Araujo-Monares and Flores-Gaxiola gave themselves up when a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter spotted them at their campsite; the other two men fled.
Because the bullets that struck the victims went all the way through their bodies and fragmented, authorities were unable to determine who actually fired the shots, sheriff's Detective Juan Carlos Navarro told Judge Richard Fields Monday in Pima County Superior Court.
In court documents and in court, county Assistant Public Defender Margo Cowan told Fields that nothing could excuse what Araujo-Monares did. However, she asked for some leniency based on her client's background.
Araujo-Monares is from an "abjectly" poor farming community 12 hours south of the U.S.-Mexico border and next to a polluted canal, Cowan said.
Because his mother has a malignant tumor that requires expensive medication and his father makes less than $20 a day as a tractor driver, Araujo-Monares agreed to rob some drug smugglers of their marijuana, Cowan said.
When Araujo-Monares and the other men saw the pickup truck, its lights were off and they couldn't see who was inside, Cowan said.
Araujo-Monares fired at the truck only because he was told if he didn't, he'd be shot, Cowan said.
Cowan said her client wasn't even let in on the escape plan.
People like Araujo-Monares are "just easy pickings for the people involved in the drug trade on both sides of the border. They are expendable," Cowan said.
Araujo-Monares told Fields that he feels bad for his victims' family members, and he vowed to become a better person.
"I know there is no justification for what I did, but I felt obligated to help my parents. When I got here, I couldn't find any work," Araujo-Monares said. "I feel very bad. I don't have the words to express how I feel. I beg you to forgive me."
Prosecutor Rick Unklesbay told Fields that Araujo-Monares is not a victim of circumstances. He chose to come to the United States illegally, he chose to participate in a drug rip-off, and he chose to stay out in the desert for days waiting for likely victims, Unklesbay said.
Araujo-Monares told detectives that he successfully robbed drug smugglers last year and got $4,000, Unklesbay said.
There is no proof that Araujo-Monares fired on the truck under duress, and only he says he did, Unklesbay said.
Ninety-nine percent of people with poor and sick relatives work hard to help support them; they don't arm themselves and ambush people, Unklesbay said.
Unklesbay asked for the maximum sentence of 44 years.
Flores-Gaxiola entered an identical plea agreement and is scheduled to be sentenced next Tuesday.
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