Opening statements begin in Baltimore beheadings case

**butterbean** · 07-07-2005, 11:23 AM

http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20050706 ... -9617r.htm

Publicity makes choosing jury hard
By S.A. Miller
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 7, 2005

BALTIMORE -- Jury selection began yesterday in the trial of two illegal Mexican aliens accused of murdering their three young relatives by beheading one child and nearly decapitating the other two.
Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Thomas Ward disqualified more than 100 potential jurors from a pool of about 250 because pretrial publicity had compromised their ability to render an impartial verdict. The selection process likely will last at least through today with about 88 jurors still to be questioned about their exposure to the publicity.
Mimi Quezada, the mother of victims Ricardo Solis Quezada Jr. and his sister, Lucero Solis Quezada, both 9, attended the proceedings and said she still doubts the guilt of the defendants, who are the children's cousin and uncle.
"I need to see proof," she told The Washington Times through an interpreter.
Mrs. Quezada, who speaks only her native Spanish, was in the country illegally, as was the rest of her family, when the crime occurred. Family members have since received special visas for the duration of the trial, which could last a month.
Mrs. Quezada's children and their 10-year-old male cousin Alexis Espejo Quezada were found butchered in their Northwest Baltimore apartment May 27, 2004, after they apparently returned home alone from school.
The children's cousin, Adan Canela, 18, and their uncle, Policarpio Espinoza Perez, 23, are charged with first-degree murder in the deaths and face life in prison if convicted. The Baltimore prosecutors, who rarely seek a death sentence, have said they asked for a life sentence this time because of the young ages of the defendants.
Prosecutors have not yet given a motive in the killings, and the state's case is expected to rely heavily on DNA evidence. Police reportedly found a glove and pants stained with both the defendants' and the victims' blood.
Defense attorneys have called the DNA evidence "weak." They also are expected to offer alternative suspects and motives in opening arguments, which could come as soon as tomorrow .
The gruesome killings attracted widespread news coverage and have become a lightning rod for the country's debate of immigration policy.
La Voz de Aztlan, an Internet news service catering to Mexicans living in the United States, has called the killings anti-Mexican "hate crimes" and suggested that the authorities railroaded Mr. Canela and Mr. Perez because of their nationality.
U.S. Border Control, a nonprofit group dedicated to ending illegal immigration, has pointed to the killings as an example of crime associated with some illegal aliens.
The interest in the case, especially local news coverage when the carnage was discovered last year, made it difficult to seat a jury, said Adam Sean Cohen, an attorney for Mr. Canela.
Court officials apparently were ready to add more jurors to the pool today.
James L. Rhodes, the lead attorney for Mr. Canela, said he did not request a change of venue for the trial because he was "comfortable with the people of Baltimore."

**Brian503a** · 09-01-2005, 12:42 AM

Looks like this story went almost completely under the radar here. I searched and found one related story posted several months ago.

www.baltimoresun.com

Triple murder case ends in a mistrial
Too much confusion, too little proof, jury says; 'The fight is not over'; Suspects still being held in deaths of 3 children

By Julie Bykowicz
Sun Staff

August 31, 2005

The summer-long trial of two Mexican immigrants accused of slashing the throats of three young relatives ended without a verdict yesterday, with a divided Baltimore jury saying there was too much confusion -- and not enough evidence -- to agree on guilt or innocence.

Jurors heard five weeks of testimony. They then deliberated for 10 days the fates of Policarpio Espinoza and Adan Canela, who are charged with three counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths last year of an 8-year-old girl, her 9-year-old brother and their 10-year-old male cousin.

Circuit Judge Thomas Ward declared a mistrial after the jury forewoman said for the second consecutive day that jurors had no hope of reaching a unanimous decision.

Prosecutors said they would ask for a new trial date today. The suspects remain in custody, held without bail.

The gruesome killings stunned a city that at times seems numb to death, and the lengthy investigation and trial that followed proved challenging on many fronts.

It included complicated DNA evidence, hundreds of exhibits, uncooperative relatives, accusations of police misconduct and the inability of prosecutors to articulate a motive.

Some jurors said yesterday that they don't believe they heard the whole truth about what happened last year in the children's Northwest Baltimore apartment -- and who was behind the slayings.

One juror pointed to a lack of motive as a stumbling block, while others said questionable police work and unclear DNA evidence entered discussions in the jury room. The four jurors who spoke about deliberations all had an unsettled feeling that permeated the trial.

'A big puzzle'

"It was a big puzzle and a lot of missing pieces," said juror Keith Brown, 41, a machine operator who said he voted to convict Espinoza and acquit Canela.

"Some things just did not seem right," said Mike Johnson, a 46-year-old juror in the case who declined to say how he voted.

The 12-member jury was deadlocked 6-6 on Canela throughout deliberations and ended at 8-4 in favor of convicting Espinoza, according to several jurors. The jury never discussed convicting either suspect of first-degree murder, only the conspiracy charges, they said.

Espinoza, 23, and Canela, 18, are accused of beating and nearly decapitating Lucero Espinoza, her brother, Ricardo Espinoza, and their male cousin, Alexis Espejo Quezada. The boys also were strangled.

The children were slain May 27 last year in their family's apartment in Fallstaff, shortly after they arrived home from elementary school.

Prosecutors vowed yesterday to try again to convict the defendants.

"We will continue to fight for justice," said Assistant State's Attorney Tony N. Garcia. "This is merely one round, but the fight is not over."

Defense attorneys for Espinoza and Canela said prosecutors had been counting on the jury to convict based on their emotions and ignore what they said was a "lack of evidence" against their clients.

"This is the kind of case that, when you take the emotions out of it, there just isn't a lot of evidence there," said Timothy M. Dixon, one of Espinoza's attorneys.

James Rhodes, an attorney for Canela, said "it would be in the interest of justice" for prosecutors to try the men separately next time around.

"I strenuously believe that there's much less evidence on Adan," he said. "There's no way he could be convicted if he was tried separately from Policarpio." The trial included a statement that Espinoza gave to police putting him near the crime scene and circumstantial evidence from two neighbors who said they saw the men acting strangely near the apartment in the days before the killings.

Much of the prosecution's case hinged on DNA evidence, which defense attorneys said was weakened because the defendants are so closely related to the victims.

Still, prosecutors presented an expert who testified that two pairs of blue jeans were stained with the children's blood. One pair, which contained DNA consistent with Espinoza's, was found in the bedroom of the Baltimore County home where the defendants lived. DNA consistent with Canela's was inside the other pair, which were removed from a car the defendants used.

Two bloody gloves, both of which had Espinoza's DNA and one possibly also with Canela's, also were recovered from the car.

Defense attorneys raised the issue of what they said was shoddy police work, even police misconduct. Dixon and Rhodes sharply questioned a Baltimore police forensic scientist who used a vacuum collection device that he had invented to suction debris, such as skin cells, from inside the bloody gloves and bloody pairs of jeans.

Police also allowed about two dozen people to walk through the crime scene, said Dixon, a former police lieutenant.

Police employees also acknowledged that they made several mistakes in their collection of some evidence, misplacing a photograph of a bloody pair of jeans taken before they were removed from the defendants' car and failing to collect the plastic bag that held the jeans.

Assistant State's Attorney Sharon R. Holback defended the police work, calling it "brilliant."

Detective Irvin C. Bradley, the lead detective in the investigation, also defended the department. "We did everything humanly possible," he said. "We did great police work."

More than 300 items were entered as evidence in the case. Both defense cases were presented in less than two days, but prosecutors put on more than two dozen witnesses over seemingly endless days of testimony. What jurors did not hear about from prosecutors was any motive. In closing arguments, a prosecutor referred to a family secret and said the children's parents weren't free to protect them.

Johnson said motive proved a problem. "That was the big mystery," he said.

Two other jurors disagreed, saying that motive didn't factor into the discussions at all.

"Even if they had a motive, it wouldn't have been good enough for me for murdering three children," said Henrietta Butler, a state worker in her 50s who was so frustrated that she shredded her notes when she got home.

Butler said she wanted to convict both defendants on murder conspiracy charges.

"It was a combination of things -- some of it was what the state presented, some of what was absent was suspicious," she said. "We just didn't have enough evidence for some people. There were a lot of gaps in the information."

Defense attorneys maintained throughout the trial that police, in their haste to solve the slayings, railroaded the suspects. The parents of the slain children said throughout the trial -- even as they testified as state's witnesses -- that they didn't believe Espinoza and Canela were guilty.

At least one juror shared that skepticism.

It 'was hideous'

"I think [the crime] was a tragedy, I think that was a travesty, I think that was hideous, I think that was the worst thing you could ever do to anyone," Johnson said. "But that still can't make someone believe you just pin it on somebody just because that happened."

Canela openly wept during parts of the trial. Espinoza seemed less emotional, though his back was to the courtroom gallery. Yesterday, both sat expressionless as the judge declared the mistrial.

Nicholas Panteleakis, an attorney for Espinoza, said his client said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank God for justice," when he learned of the outcome. Canela, however, was "upset he didn't get closure," Rhodes said, adding that his client felt ill and wasn't able to eat during much of the trial.

The length of the trial was beginning to wear on the jury of seven women and five men. The forewoman missed her daughter's first day of school Monday. Juror No. 10 was allowed to attend only about an hour of his aunt's funeral service Friday. Other jurors were feeling the financial impact of being out of work for nearly two months.

The trial's cost is estimated to be at least $100,000. Paying jurors their stipend of $50 per day cost about $26,500 and paying the Spanish-language interpreters their fee of about $325 per day cost about $22,400.

Ward called the jury into court yesterday to see if they had made any progress in their deliberations.

"Do you feel there's any point to continue deliberating this case?" the judge asked.

The forewoman replied in a barely audible voice, "No."

Ward asked the others if they agreed with her, and several loudly said yes. Others nodded in agreement.

The judge thanked the jurors for performing their civic duty and commended them for their time and effort.

"You have given your all to these deliberations," he said. "And with that I say goodbye to you."

Sun staff writers Lynn Anderson, William Wan and Tyrone Richardson contributed to this article.

**Brian503a** · 09-01-2005, 12:44 AM

www.baltimoresun.com

Relatives 'happy' about lack of verdict
2 men charged in killings 'not guilty,' a friend says

By Julie Bykowicz and Kelly Brewington
Sun Staff

August 31, 2005

The parents of a little girl and boy who were brutally killed with their cousin last year assembled yesterday at a Baltimore law office with the defenders of the men accused of killing their children.

The relatives were "happy," a family friend said, that the jury could not reach a verdict in the trial of Policarpio Espinoza and Adan Canela, causing the judge to declare a mistrial.

"One of these days this trial is going to be over," said Jorge "George" Zapada. "They're going to find out these [men] are not guilty."

The unusual scene capped a trial in which the family of illegal Mexican immigrants -- from the defendants to the parents of the slain children -- played starring, if confusing, roles.

Prosecutors said the victims' parents, who are related to the men charged, perhaps know more than they told police about what happened to their children. And other relatives of the children, prosecutors hinted, might have conspired with the defendants to kill the children because of a "family secret." Prosecutors treated the relatives aggressively on the stand.

A defense attorney said prosecutors tried to use the jury's lack of familiarity with Mexican culture throughout the trial.

"The state planted some sort of seed that there is something wrong with these people," said Timothy M. Dixon, an attorney for Espinoza. "They played on cultural differences. They played on racial differences. They played on religion. They tried to make these people sound like they are strange. They are just from another country. There is no evidence that anyone in this family committed this crime."

Ricardo Espinoza Perez and Noemi "Mimi" Espinoza Quezada, mother and father of Lucero, 8, and Ricardo, 9, have unswervingly said from the day their children's bodies were found that they don't believe Espinoza and Canela are guilty.

"I think they are innocent," Quezada said in Spanish during an interview last week in the hallways of Baltimore Circuit Court, as she waited to hear the jury's verdict. "I've never had a problem with them. I don't have a doubt. They never bothered me and never showed any suspicions when they took care of my children."

Maria Andrea Espejo Quezada, the mother of Alexis Espejo Quezada, the 10-year-old boy who was killed, is "not sure what she believes," said Noemi Quezeda, the woman's aunt.

"She says [the prosecutors] have to show us proof," Noemi Quezada said. "They haven't shown enough proof for her."

Maria Quezada has been staying with relatives in New York and was not present at most of the trial, including yesterday.

Espinoza, 23, and Canela, 18, are charged with beating and slashing the throats of the children shortly after they arrived home May 27, 2004, from Cross Country Elementary School.

The children were normal little kids with big dreams, Noemi Quezada said in a recent interview. Lucero wanted to be a police detective and Ricardo wanted to be a doctor, she said.

"My son would tell me he wanted to buy me a house," she said. "He would say, 'Mommy, when you are old, I'm going to take care of you.'"

Espinoza is the children's uncle and Canela is a cousin. The relationships in the Mexican family came up often during the five weeks of testimony. All of them immigrated illegally to Baltimore from a village in Veracruz.

The complicated family tree added to the confusion, blurring any clear distinction between adversary and victim. The parents of the slain children testified as prosecution witnesses, but at times seemed to be playing for the defense. They said the defendants had a good relationship with the victims and that they didn't believe the accused committed the crime.

Prosecutors and a defense lawyer discussed Canela's father, Victor Espinoza Perez, and raised questions about his behavior and whereabouts the afternoon of the killings. He was the one the relatives were afraid of when they offered less than helpful testimony, they said.

Also, the mother of one of the victims, Maria Andrea Espejo Quezada, testified that one of the suspects, Canela, had made overtures toward her a month before the children were killed.

The parents and other relatives were allowed to remain in the country so that they could testify at the trial. A second trial might be months away.

Immigrations officials said they will consult with prosecutors on which family members might be called to testify.

**Brian503a** · 09-01-2005, 12:51 AM

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/4920845/detail.html

Five-Week Trial Ends In Mistrial Due To Hung Jury

POSTED: 3:21 pm EDT August 31, 2005

BALTIMORE -- The two Mexican immigrants whose murder trial for nearly beheading three young relatives ended in a hung jury, will wait at least five months before facing a new jury.

The first trial of Adan Canela, 18, and Policarpio Espinoza, 23, ended in a mistrial Tuesday when the jury said it was unable to reach a verdict after hearing five weeks of testimony and after deliberating for 11 days.

The jury was evenly split and one member said there was no smoking gun in the case. Some jurors spoke to what they called a lack of a solid motive.

"That was a big mystery, not having a motive and (the defendants) being family and all," said Mike Johnson, a juror. "I think that was a tragedy, I think that was a travesty, I think that was hideous. That was the worst thing that you could do to anyone, but you can't just pin that on to somebody just because of what happened."

"We believe that all the evidence did not come in that should've come in, we had some things missing even from some of the things we had," said a woman who identified herself as Juror No. 6.

The new trial is March 1, before Baltimore Circuit Court Judge John Glynn.

WBAL-TV 11 News reporter David Collins reported Tuesday that Espinoza and Canela will remain charged with first-degree murder. Also, the federal government continues to hold a retainer on both defendants due to their illegal immigrant status.

During an administrative hearing Wednesday Judge Lynn Stewart sent the defense attorneys and prosecutors into the hall to huddle after they first offered up a date at the end of April.

"Oh, heck no, what's wrong with you?" Stewart said. "We're not going into April -- these guys are incarcerated."

After returning to the courtroom, the attorneys still had not agreed on a date. So Stewart set the March 1 trial after negotiating with the attorneys over their plans to vacation in Cancun and Costa Rica, and an attorney's wish to observe the Passover holiday.

The three small children were found brutally murdered in their parents' apartment in May 2004.

The family is from Tenenexpan, a small town in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The children were born in Mexico and emigrated to the United States with their parents.

**Brian503a** · 09-01-2005, 01:35 AM

Went back and grabbed a bunch of older articles for anyone wanting to familiarize yourself with what went on.

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/3354664/detail.html

Police: Three Children Decapitated In Baltimore Apartment
Authorities Speaking With Person Of Interest

POSTED: 6:13 pm EDT May 27, 2004
UPDATED: 10:02 pm EDT May 27, 2004

BALTIMORE -- Police reported that three children were decapitated in a northwest Baltimore apartment Thursday afternoon.

Sky Team 11 reported over the 7000 block of Park Heights Avenue where, police said, three children were murdered in a first-floor apartment complex.

One child was 6 years old and another was 9 years old. The age of the third child was not reported; however, police told 11 News that all of the children are under the age of 10.

Police are speaking with a person of interest who they said had a running disagreement with the family. But it is not clear if the person is a part of that family, WBAL-TV 11 News reporter John Sherman reported.

Baltimore City Police Deputy Commissioner Kenneth Blackwell told 11 News that the children's mother found the children in the apartment sometime around 5:40 p.m.

Apparently, the mother does not speak English, but she rushed to a neighbor who then called police, Sherman reported.

"We see this as an isolated incident," Blackwell said. "Neighbors have no reason to be concerned (about their safety)."

Mayor Martin O'Malley, who visited the scene, said: "Police are investigating a brutal, tragic, unfathomably sad murder."

The crime scene left police shaken.

The first officer on the scene "couldn't handle it" and had to give the call to another officer, Blackwell said. "Walking in on a scene, seeing children of that tender age in that condition, certainly breaks your heart.

"I've been around for 35 years and I've seen, unfortunately, my share of murders, but I've never seen something as bad as this. It really tugs at your heartstrings," he said.

Al Johnson, who lives in the apartment complex near where the children were found, said she heard the mother screaming and called 911.

"They freely run around," Johnson said of the children. "No one watches them because it's such a safe place. It's really hard to believe.

"They were very nice, cordial kids. It's such a shock to everyone. It's a very quiet, peaceful community."

Johnson said there are "three or four" Hispanic families in the complex who are very close.

"This is a neighborhood where there are a lot of observant Jews, so many people are on foot," said Roger Stanley, 45, who lives around corner from the apartment complex.

"It's very safe. A lot of people in the neighborhood don't know the people living in this complex. This is more of a transient place. It's shocking, especially in a neighborhood like this," Stanley said.

Matt Teichman, 17, a student at Talmudical Academy, was returning home from prayers when he heard the sirens and saw police.

"We walk here late at night and we usually feel safe," he said. "Now, I don't know what to feel. I can't really believe it."

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/3356317/detail.html

Two Arrested After 1 Child Beheaded; 2 Partially Decapitated
Mexican Government Confirms Suspects', Parents' Identities

POSTED: 5:55 am EDT May 28, 2004

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore City police arrested two people in the gruesome deaths of three children slain in their northwest Baltimore apartment.

Also, WBAL-TV 11 News has learned that investiagtors are not ruling anything out, including a possible link to an illegal immigration ring. Federal investigators told 11 News that the family may have failed to make payments and suffered deadly consequences, WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins reported.

Federal agents began looking into the possibility of illegal immigration Thursday. The victims' mother, however, told investigators Thursday that they didn't owe anybody anything, Collins said.

Investigators announced early Friday morning the arrests of Adan Espinoza Canela, 17, and Piolicarpio Espinoza, 22, in the deaths of two 9-year-olds and a 10-year-old. Police said the men may be the uncles to at least one of the victims.

Arrests Made In Partial Decapitation, Beheading Case
They will face a bond hearing scheduled for Tuesday. Both men face three counts of first-degree murder and one count of possession of deadly weapon.

The Mexican government identified Policarpio Espinoza as the children's uncle and Adan Espinoza Canela as their cousin.

Officials in Mexico have also identified the children's parents as Ricardo Espinoza, Mimi Quezada and Maria Andrea Espejo. It's not known who the parents of each child were.

Deputy Baltimore City Police Commissioner Kenneth Blackwell said they took the two men into custody late Thursday night after receiving what he called "a major break" in the case. He said the men were questioned Thursday night and Friday morning.

"At this time, we are very confident that we have two main suspects in the case," Baltimore City Police Chief of Detectives Antonio Williams said.

"Our belief right now is that those two children were at home by themselves," Williams said.

Blackwell said investigators consulted with the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office and charged the men with murder on Friday morning. He said they do not have a clear motive for the killings.

Officials said one child had been beheaded and the other two were partially decapitated. Police found a butcher's knife covered in blood behind the apartment complex.

The government of Mexico is helping the children's family, offering legal and financial aid to the stricken parents. The Foreign Relations Department says the parents were undocumented immigrants and that their chlordan were born in Mexico City and the state of Veracruz.

The children were identified as 10-year-old Alexis Quezada, a boy; a 9-year-old girl, Lucero Quezada; and a 8-year-old boy, Ricardo Espinoza. Police earlier identified the victims as two girls and a boy, but said Friday morning that they had made a mistake.

"This was an act of someone who obviously has no conscience; [it was a] despicable act in an area where it's very uncustomary for these types of incidents to occur," Blackwell said.

Police said two families lived together and it was the Quezada's mother who made the gruesome discovery. Authorities said the children were found about 5:40 p.m. Thursday. Two of the children were found in one bedroom. One was found in another.

Friends and neighbors said the two families living in the apartment were from Mexico and have lived her for at least three years.

The children were in school on Thursday and police said they returned home around 3:30 p.m.

The crime scene was reportedly so brutal that even veteran police officers have been left shaken. Police have since collected forensic evidence, including a 10- to 12-inch butcher knife blade.

Parents and teachers at the children's school, Cross Country Elementary, hugged each other Friday morning and cried. Officials said grief counselors would be on hand to help the 700 students.

The Art Deco apartment complex is in the Fallstaff neighborhood in the northwest corner of the city, not far from Pimlico Race Course, where the Preakness Stakes was held two weeks ago. The complex is surrounded by well-tended homes and green lawns dotted with cicadas.

The neighborhood is largely Orthodox Jewish, with a mix of white, black and Hispanic residents. Jews in the area were observing the Shavuot holiday, and many milled about the apartment complex on their way to and from prayers.

Matt Teichman, 17, a student at Talmudical Academy, was returning home from prayers when he heard the sirens and saw police.

"We walk here late at night and we usually feel safe," he said. "Now, I don't know what to feel. I can't really believe it."

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/3358507/detail.html

Neighbors: 3 Slain Children's Family Left N.Y. To Escape Crime
Community Builds Shrine To Remember, Honor Slain Children

POSTED: 4:37 pm EDT May 28, 2004
UPDATED: 7:26 pm EDT May 28, 2004

BALTIMORE -- After a northwest Baltimore mother finds her three children slain in their apartment, relatives grapple with what happened.

Lucero Quezada, her brother Ricardo Espinoza and their nephew Alexis Quezada -- all under 10 years of age -- were found murdered in their apartment. Baltimore City police said one child was decapitated and the two others were nearly decapitated.

"It really hurt my heart to see an animal to do something. [It] can't be a human being that would harm three kids like this," said Johnny Dow, a community activist who knew the children.

Community Builds Shrine To Remember, Honor Slain Children
"It just don't add up, all three just gets brutally killed like that, none of them got away. I don't understand it," neighbor Anthony Johnson said.

According to a relative, the family is from Veracruz, Mexico. They run a food business and neighbors said the family came to Baltimore three years ago to escape violence in New York.

The children made a huge positive impression on everyone they came in contact with, WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins reported.

"I just know the kids are so sweet. I hope that God is looking down and they are up in heaven right now," said Linda Walton, a friend of the victims.

Touched by the tragedy, people who live miles away are turning the crime scene into a shrine.

"Kids don't deserve anything like this, no child deserves to die any way and no matter what," Owings Mills resident Dawn Carter said.

"We chose teddy bears because they are children and we did the American theme because it is Memorial Day weekend, and we thought that was appropriate. We just wanted to show our support and our prayers are with them," Reisterstown resident Lisa Utterback said.

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/3366576/detail.html

Bail Denied For Men Accused Of Killing Three Children
Investigators Still Searching For Motive

POSTED: 5:59 am EDT June 1, 2004
UPDATED: 6:21 pm EDT June 1, 2004

BALTIMORE -- A District Court judge has denied bail for the two people charged in the slayings of three children last week in Baltimore.

Prosecutors said Adan Espinoza Canela, 17, and Policarpio Espinoza, 22, may be in the country illegally, which makes them a flight risk. Espinoza's attorney said his client baby-sat for the children and maintains he could not have done such a thing.

The judge has imposed a gag order in Espinoza's case.

They are charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Ricardo Espinoza and his sister, Lucero Quezada, both 9; and their 10-year-old cousin, Alexis Quezada. One child had been beheaded and the others nearly decapitated.

Family, Police Still Searching For Answers To Killings

According to the charging documents, Espinoza, who was described as the brother of the father of two of the slain children, told police that Canela, his cousin, was in the apartment with the children for about 40 minutes. When Espinoza later asked Canela what he was doing for so long, Canela said he had been "playing with the children," the documents said.

Officials found a butcher knife near the crime scene and a bloodstained towel and shirt at the home of the two suspects, according to charging documents.

Police say a T-shirt covered in blood was recovered from the suspects' home. Tests are being run on the shirt to see if the blood matches the victims.

Victims, Suspects In Triple Decapitation, Beheading Case

Autopsy results show the children suffered a variety of injuries including blunt force trauma and asphyxiation. This could mean they were subdued to keep them from crying for help.

The family's greatest concern now, he said, is the psychological well-being of Alexis' 2-year-old sister Monserrat. Venancio Espejo, the uncle of victim Alexis Quezada, said the little girl entered the apartment with a parent shortly after the attack, and is being seen by a therapist.

Espejo said his sister is also desperate to return to Mexico, to bury her child and console their mother, 64-year-old Elvia Quezada Morales, who is in frail health and has not yet been told that Alexis - the grandson she doted on - and her niece and nephew are dead.

Investigators are still searching for a motive in the killings. WBAL-TV reported that one possible angle they're looking into includes links to an illegal immigration ring.

Counselors will again be on hand at Cross Country Elementary School -- where the children attended -- to help those students that are having a hard time dealing with the tragedy.

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/3374900/detail.html

Officials Piece Together Suspects' Immigration History, Plan To Seek Victims' School Records

POSTED: 6:05 pm EDT June 2, 2004
UPDATED: 6:08 pm EDT June 2, 2004

BALTIMORE -- Authorities are investigating how two murder suspects, the victims and their families entered the United States.

Baltimore City police are working with federal immigration authorities to unravel the backgrounds of the three children murdered last week and the suspects as they target the unanswered questions that hang over the case, WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller reported.

Police are investigating how those involved entered the United States and resided here without legal documentation. The documentation they did use is very much a part of this case, as investigators continue to pinpoint a motive, Miller reported.

Victims, Suspects In Triple Decapitation, Beheading Case

Immigration agents have questioned both suspects and confirmed neither was in the United States legally.

One suspect, Policarpio Espinoza, 22, had a passport. Federal authorities are now tracking down how he obtained it, in addition to its authenticity. The passport may explain how Espinoza got through the U.S.-Mexico border after being stopped several times in the year 2000 by the border patrol and turned back to Mexico, Miller reported.

But the U.S. entry of the second suspect, Adan Canela, is a mystery. The 11 News I-Team has learned that he has not been in contact with authorities anywhere in the United States. One investigator said it's as if Canela just showed up out of thin air.

Investigators are also checking the backgrounds of the three children to learn where they were born and to verify the documentation used by the families to enroll them in school.

By unraveling the paper trail, the 11 News I-Team has learned, investigators hope to determine whether the children's murders may be linked to a broader scheme involving illegal immigration to the United States and whether other people may be involved.

Ricardo Espinoza, 9; his sister, Lucero Quezada, 9; and their cousin, Alexis Quezada, 10, were murdered Thursday. One child had been beheaded and the others nearly decapitated.

The children's parents are undocumented immigrants from Mexico, where the children were born. The Mexican embassy in Washington is working with the parents to bring the bodies to Mexico for burial.

A Bank of America trust fund has been created to help the families. Donations can be made to the fund at any of the bank's branches in Maryland, northern Virginia and the District of Columbia.

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/3376541/detail.html

Hundreds Gather To Pray For Slain Children

POSTED: 6:12 am EDT June 3, 2004
UPDATED: 7:17 am EDT June 3, 2004

BALTIMORE -- Hundreds gathered Wednesday night to pray for the families of three brutally murdered children - and to ask why their lives were taken - as police have yet to determine a motive for the killings.

Among the mourners was 11-year-old Teryn McLeod, who brought flowers for the three children she used to play with on the school bus.

"I just hope that their families are OK and they'll be in a better place," Teryn said, before rain fell from a dark sky, delaying the interfaith candlelight vigil.

Victims, Suspects In Triple Decapitation, Beheading Case

Relatives of the slain children - Ricardo Espinoza and his sister, Lucero Quezada, both 9; and their 10-year-old male cousin, Alexis Quezada - cried as city leaders spoke alongside leaders from the Hispanic and Jewish communities.

Vigil participants gathered in front of the apartment complex where the children's bodies were found, filling a busy Baltimore street that was closed off for the ceremony.

Candlelight Vigil Remembers Three Slain Children
Grandfather Remembers Pain When Granddaughter Murdered

Gilberto de Jesus, of the Baltimore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, spoke of how the sounds of the three children, who frequently played together outside, have been silenced, leaving a "community grieving."

"We are a community defined by hardship, but even these tragedies leave us all gasping for air," he said.

Mayor Martin O'Malley expressed the city's condolences to the families for the "unfathomable loss."

"There are some crimes that strike so deeply at the fabric of our humanity as a people that words will not allow us to make reason out of madness," the mayor said.

One child had been beheaded and the others nearly decapitated.

The vigil came a day after a judge denied bail for Adan Espinoza Canela, 17, and his cousin, Policarpio Espinoza, 22. The suspects, both of whom are from Mexico and relied on Spanish-speaking interpreters during the bail review hearing, are each charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

According to charging documents, Espinoza, who was described as a paternal uncle of two of the slain children, told police that Canela was in the apartment Thursday with the children for about 40 minutes. When Espinoza later asked Canela what he did there for so long, Canela said he'd been playing with the children, the documents said.

Officials found a butcher knife near the crime scene and a towel and shirt, stained with what police suspect to be blood, at the suspects' home, according to the documents.

A Bank of America trust fund has been created to help the families. Donations can be made to the fund at any of the bank's branches in Maryland, northern Virginia and the District of Columbia.

The family is from Tenenexpan, a small town in the Mexican state of Veracruz known for its mango trees. The children were born in Mexico.

The Mexican embassy in Washington is working with the children's parents, who are undocumented immigrants, to bring the bodies to Mexico for burial.

"We know how expensive it can be, and we are going to help them economically," said Miguel Monterrubio, an embassy spokesman.

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/3710757/detail.html

Trial Date Set For Men Charged In Murder Of Three Children

POSTED: 12:00 pm EDT September 7, 2004

BALTIMORE -- Two suspects charged with the gruesome murders of three Mexican children pleaded innocent Tuesday to beheading one of their young relatives and nearly decapitating the other children.

Video

David Collins Reports: Suspects In Death Of Children Get Day In Court

Judge John Glynn set a Dec. 13 trial for Policarpio Espinoza Perez, 22, and Adan Espinoza Canela, 17, who asked for a jury trial.

They are charged with first-degree murder and other charges in the killings of Ricardo Solis Quezada Jr. and his sister, Lucero Solis Quezada, both 9, and their 10-year-old male cousin, Alexis Espejo Quezada. They were found dead in their apartment after returning home from school the afternoon of May 27.

The men remain in custody without bail. Perez's last name was initially identified as Espinoza, but court officials corrected it at the hearing.

Police have yet to disclose a motive for the crimes, and attorneys representing the two men seized on that after an arraignment in Baltimore on Tuesday.

Victims, Suspects In Triple Decapitation, Beheading Case

Timothy Dixon, who is representing Perez, said the victims' families, who are related to the suspects, "are in complete support of them."

"These gentlemen have gotten along well with their family members for their entire lives," Dixon said. "I just don't understand why (it) went this far."

Prosecutor Sharon Holback declined to discuss motive after the hearing.

The victims' relatives, who are undocumented immigrants, don't speak English, and a translator repeated the indictment in Spanish as it was read in the court room. They cried and hugged as the crimes were read aloud. Perez and Canela stood next to each other in court.

In July, The (Baltimore) Sun, citing anonymous sources, reported that a bloody glove discovered in a car trunk links Perez to the killings. Perez was the children's uncle.

The glove was found in the trunk of Perez's car, and tests on it revealed his blood and the blood of one of the children, the newspaper reported.

Troy Harris, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department, declined to comment on the case Tuesday.

James Rhodes, who represents Canela, maintained that both men were innocent. He downplayed the news leak.

"Constant requests have gone out to the state to produce the evidence that I've heard about," Rhodes said. "I've not seen one piece of evidence yet. I'm still waiting for it."

The two suspects, who are in the country illegally from Mexico, were arrested May 28, the day after the killings.

Both men face three counts each of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon. They could get life in prison.

Their attorneys said both men were upset and confused.

"My client just can't imagine it," Dixon said. "He can't imagine he'd be charged with murdering his own relatives."

The family is from Tenenexpan, a small town in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The children, who were born in Mexico, were buried there in June.

Earlier that month, U.S. immigration officials decided to allow the Mexican parents of the children to stay in the country for a year after burying the children in Mexico. Significant public benefit paroles were granted to them, so they could be in the country during the prosecution of the suspects.

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/3667523/detail.html

Child Slaying Suspects' Relative Faces Deportation
Officials Detain Man On Alleged Immigration Violations

POSTED: 5:22 pm EDT August 19, 2004

BALTIMORE -- A relative of the two men accused in the slayings of three children in northwest Baltimore faces his own trouble with federal immigration authorities and could face deportation, WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller reported.

Video

Feds Want To Deport Murder Suspects' Relative
Federal officials have Victor Espinoza -- the father of one of the murder suspects and the brother of another -- in custody Thursday for alleged immigrations violations.

Sources told the 11 News I-Team that Espinoza is much like the patriarch of the whole family. Immigration authorities detained him Monday, and first took him to the Howard County Detention Center.

He then was transported to a jail on the Eastern Shore, where he's currently being held.

Espinoza is the father of Adan Canela, 17, and the brother of Policarpio Espinoza, 22. The two stand accused of killing three children in May in a northwest Baltimore apartment. One of the children was decapitated and the other two were partially beheaded.

Authorities have not yet determined a motive for the murders, but investigators have not ruled out a possible connection to illegal immigration activities, Miller reported.

Victor Espinoza (pictured, right) will appear at an immigration hearing in the near future. Sources said he will face deportation proceedings, Miller said.

His detention follows a background investigation completed by Baltimore City police and immigration authorities, all provoked by the murder investigation.

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/4701732/detail.html

Defense Introduces Theory Of Motive In Child Slaying Trial
Prosecutor: Trail Of Blood Ties Two Mexican Men To Murders

POSTED: 8:31 pm EDT July 8, 2005

BALTIMORE -- Prosecutors and two teams of defense attorneys, representing two men accused of murdering three children last year, delivered graphic opening statements Friday, painting a bloody picture of a 2004 attack.

An all-black panel of eight women and four men began hearing the trial of Policarpio Espinoza and Adan Canela, both accused of the May 2004 murders of three children.

Canela's defense argues another family member was involved in the killings as prosecutors urge the jury to focus on the evidence.

The defendants, Mexican immigrants related to the victims, stand accused of killing three children: Ricardo Espinoza, 9; his sister, Lucero Quezada, 9; and their cousin, Alexis Quezada, 10. One child had been beheaded and the others nearly decapitated.

The three children were found dead in their apartment last year after they returned from school. The family is from Tenenexpan, a small town in the Mexican state of Veracruz.

"They were all alive when they were beaten. ... The boys were both strangled before their hands were cut off. All their heads were still attached, but just barely," prosecutor Sharon Holbeck, said.

WBAL-TV 11 News reporter John Sherman reported from the courtroom that the prosecution focused on the nature of crime Friday, delivering graphic statements that concentrated on the alleged attacks on the children.

"They were hardly more than babies ... they were slaughtered, butchered. ... They were all beaten over the head first. ... We found a bloody baseball bat behind the building with all three children's blood on it," Holbeck said.

"All of them fought for their little lives. They have defense wounds on their hands, but they lost," Holbeck said.

Sherman said the prosecutors delivered a recurring theme to "follow the trail of blood" that they said leads to the defendants' jeans, car and home -- covered in all three children's blood.

But the defense attacked the Baltimore City Police Department and the prosecutors.

"The Baltimore Police Department was put on the spot ... they needed someone arrested immediately," Espinoza's defense attorney, Tim Dixon, said.

Dixon said police had several other people in custody who had motives for killing the children, and he described "strong-arm tactics" used by authorities to pressure the victims' families to bolster the case against Espinoza, the children's uncle, and Canela, a cousin.

Dixon said jurors would hear about the "dirty little secrets" in the investigation, including how family members were taken to a detention center on the Eastern Shore because they wouldn't agree with authorities' conclusions in the case.

"The DNA evidence is manufactured and contrived ... illiterate and unsophisticated immigrants can be taken advantage of," Dixon said.

He said his client is a kind and compassionate person who never encountered trouble with law before, even in his native Mexico. Meanwhile, the mother of Ricardo and Lucero has expressed doubts that Espinoza and Canela are responsible.

The two defense teams tried to weaken the prosecutors' arguments, pointing to the weakness in their evidence.

"They're not going to tell you a motive, and there is no motive," Dixon said.

James Rhodes, who is Canela's lawyer, asked jurors to consider the men separately.

"The majority of what you may think you know about this case is wrong, it's not even close," Rhodes told the jury.

Sherman said Rhodes delivered to the jury the first theory of motive. In his statement, Rhodes introduced Victor Espinoza to the jury. Victor Espinoza is Policarpio Espinoza's brother, and Canela's father.

Rhodes accused Victor Espinoza of making significant amounts of money transporting people into the United States. But when Victor Espinoza didn't receive payment, Rhodes said Espinoza allegedly tried to send a message.

The attorney also accused Victor Espinoza of making sexual advances on one of the mothers of the slain children.

Rhodes told the jury that records will show a flurry of phone calls between Victor Espinoza and Policarpio Espinoza, starting at 3 a.m. on the day of the slayings. The attorney said the calls stopped at the time of the killings.

Ricardo Quezada, the father of Lucero and Ricardo Jr., took the stand. Speaking through a translator, he testified that he told police about other people he believed may have been responsible for the crimes.

They included a woman who was angry about the children playing outside the apartment complex and a group of teenagers who painted skulls and threatening language on a nearby garage.

The first witness in the case was Dana Jones, who lived upstairs from the apartment where the children were slain.

She testified to seeing Espinoza and Canela walk behind the apartment building at night near the children's apartment two days before the killings. Jones, who saw them from her car, said the two men made her uncomfortable.

"It didn't look right to me," she said.

When she found out the children were killed two days later, she told police about seeing the men behind the children's apartment.

Canela and Espinoza face life in prison without possibility of parole if convicted. They are charged with three counts each of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon -- a knife -- in the slayings.

They remain held without bail in the Baltimore City Detention Center.

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/4710232/detail.html

Prosecutor: Moms Had 'Premonition' In Child Slaying Case
State Implies Mothers Knew Of Murders In Advance

POSTED: 5:51 pm EDT July 11, 2005
UPDATED: 8:20 pm EDT July 11, 2005

BALTIMORE -- The mother of two of three children brutally murdered last year testified Monday that she had premonitions of the attacks.

WBAL-TV 11 News reporter John Sherman reported from the Mitchell Courthouse that the state attempted to show that the mothers of young victims knew in advance of the killings.

Naomi Quezada, the mother of Ricardo Solis Quezada Jr., 9, and Lucero Solis Quezada, 8, described how she had a headache and prayed while waiting at a bank shortly before the murders.

She testified that Maria Alexis, the mother of the third victim, Alexis Espejo Quezada, 10, also was nervous.

Quezada took the stand on the second day of testimony in the trial of Adan Canela, 18, and Policarpio Espinoza, 23, who are both charged in the murders. Espinoza is the uncle of the dead children, and Canela is a cousin.

The three children were found dead in their apartment last year after they returned from school. One child had been beheaded and the others nearly decapitated. The family is from Tenenexpan, a small town in the Mexican state of Veracruz.

The state first presented to the jury evidence implicating the patriarch of the family, Victor Espinoza, 38, had control over everything. Sherman said the state showed how he had nearly all of the family's possession in his name, including their house, apartment, three food trucks, three cell phones and a car.

Sherman reported police defectives testified that all family members looked to Victor Espinoza for approval before answering questions during interviews.

Prosecutor Sharon Holbeck questioned Quezada about what the mothers knew and when.

Quezada testified that on May 27, 2004, the day of the murders, she and Maria Andrea were cleaning on of their food trucks in Towson.

At 4 p.m., she testified, the two mothers prayed.

Holbeck asked Quezada: "Why where you praying at 4 p.m. on the day your children were killed? Why does one pray to St. Jude? Why were you praying to St. Jude at that time, on that day?"

Quezada replied: "That day, I got nervous, I don't know why I got nervous. ... Maria Andrea was also nervous ... as mothers, we already had a sense. We knew."

John Sherman Reports: State IDs Patriarch As In Control
She also talked about what happened when she returned with her husband, Ricardo, to their Baltimore apartment between 4:40 and 4:45 p.m. without a key and didn't get a response from the children after ringing the doorbell.

Quezada has expressed doubts that Espinoza and Canela are responsible for the murders, and Holbeck had difficulty getting her to answer some questions. Quezada doesn't speak English and required a translator.

Holdbeck cited phone records to show that Ricardo called inside the home at 4:59 p.m., prompting Holback to ask why they waited to call inside. Quezada said they had been knocking loudly on the door.

By 5:30 p.m., Quezada said they knew the children were dead.

Holback also focused on a call made at 5:27 p.m. from a cell phone used by her husband to a phone used by Policarpio Espinoza. Another call was made at 5:35 p.m. to a cell phone used by Victor Espinoza, who is Canela's father.

Victor Espinoza testified earlier in the day about the cell phone numbers and what he remembered about phone calls he made the day of the murders.

During opening statements last week, Canela's attorney implicated alleged involvement on the part of Victor Espinoza in the murders. Victor Espinoza faces no charges. The defense argued that Victor Espinoza -- who is Policarpio Espinoza's brother and Canela's father -- earned significant amounts of money transporting people into the United States.

But when Victor Espinoza didn't receive payment, he allegedly tried to send a message, according to the defense attorney.

Prosecutors urged jurors last week to "follow the trail of blood" allegedly linking the two Mexican immigrants to the gruesome murders. The children were nearly beheaded with a knife after being beaten with a baseball bat in their apartment.

"They were hardly more than babies ... they were slaughtered, butchered. ... They were all beaten over the head first. ... We found a bloody baseball bat behind the building with all three children's blood on it," Holbeck said.

"All of them fought for their little lives. They have defense wounds on their hands, but they lost," Holbeck said.

DNA evidence is expected to play a prominent role in the trial. Holback told jurors the murders resulted in a trail of blood to a car used by the suspects, where a pair of pants was found by police with blood from all three children. A pair of pants found at a home in Pikesville where one of the defendants lived also contained blood from the crime scene, Holback said.

Policarpio Espinoza's defense argued last week that the DNA evidence was manufactured and contrived, and that "illiterate and unsophisticated immigrants can be taken advantage of."

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/4715556/detail.html

Detective: Slain Children's Family Entered U.S. Illegally
Defense Attorneys Question Officer's Control Over Crime Scene

POSTED: 7:05 pm EDT July 12, 2005
UPDATED: 7:41 pm EDT July 12, 2005

BALTIMORE -- Prosecutors introduced four theories Tuesday that they believe implicate two men accused in the slaying of three children.

WBAL-TV 11 News reporter John Sherman reported the prosecution introduced four individual threads of theories, instead of presenting a complete story, hoping jurors will weave it together themselves.

Baltimore City police homicide detective Irvin Bradley led the investigation into the brutal slayings of three Mexican children. He testified Tuesday that family members paid someone to help them enter the country illegally.

"Something was paid but to whom and how much I don't know," Bradley said during the third day of testimony in the trial of Adan Canela, 18, and Policarpio Espinoza, 23. Espinoza is the uncle of the dead children, and Canela is a cousin.

The children -- 9-year-old Ricardo Solis Quezada Jr., his sister 8-eight-year Lucero Solis Quezada, and their cousin 10-year-old Alexis Espejo Quezada -- were found in May 2004 in the family's apartment, their throats so deeply cut they were nearly decapitated.

Attorneys for the two defendants maintain that police arrested the wrong men and that the motive of the real killers may be connected to the trafficking of illegal immigrants.

Prosecutors have not presented a motive, though they allege Canela and Espinoza conspired with "person or persons unknown."

Sherman reported the state's first thread of four theories involves the physical evidence:

Blood-stained blue jeans recovered from a defendant's car and home with the stains of all three children's blood.
A drop of Lucero Solis Quezada's blood on Policarpio Espinoza's shoe.

The second thread involves the nature of crime. Prosecutors said the children were first beaten with baseball bats and were still alive when they were all nearly decapitated.

Then, in the third thread, prosecutors allege a family conspiracy, saying Victor Espinoza runs and owns everything. They pointed to testimony delivered Monday that one of the children's mothers had premonitions of the murders. Prosecutors said the mothers may have known of the killings in advance.

To prove the third thread, prosecutors introduced the fourth thread, questioning the family's first reactions to the murders during police interviews. According to prosecutors, family members told police during initial police interviews that "three black kids likely did it."

On Monday, Bradley testified that family members seemed "not wanting to give all the information that I needed" when he questioned them.

Prosecutors even described the investigation, specifically, as a "wild goose chase." They then pointed to an upstairs neighbor, Dana Jones, who testified that she saw the two defendants two nights before murders acting suspiciously near the children's back window.

Detective Alters Testimony Upon Defense Questioning

The defense claimed poor police work in the case, forcing Bradley to twice amend his earlier testimony.

In one instance, Bradley changed his testimony over side windows of the apartment in which the murders took place.

Sherman reported the detective first testified the distance from the ground to the window was 10 to 12 feet, and that he, who stands at 6 feet 4 inches tall, couldn't have entered the window from the ground. He subsequently changed his testimony during later questions to say that the window is actually 6 to 7 feet away from the ground, and he could climb through.

Timothy Dixon, an attorney representing Espinoza, asked Bradley if the family entered the country with the help of "coyotes," smugglers who get people into the country illegally for a fee.

Bradley said he had tracked the family's history and found out they had paid someone, but he said he didn't know specific details.

James Rhodes, an attorney for Canela, asked Bradley about what happened at the crime scene before his arrival. Rhodes focused on Bradley's knowledge of how many people were there before him, where they went and whether the crime scene may have been contaminated.

Bradley, who was responsible for preserving the crime scene, often couldn't say exactly where about 23 people had been in and around the apartment before his arrival.

Sherman reported that the detective testified that no authority took pictures of footprints surrounding the scene because "other officers had contaminated that scene with many other footprints."

Defense Discounts DNA Evidence

Dixon also asked questions about evidence, including a bloody T-shirt reportedly found in a washing machine at a Baltimore County home where the defendants lived.

Under questioning, Bradley was unable to describe the T-shirt and couldn't say where the shirt was currently located. Dixon also asked about a bloody fingerprint found inside the apartment. Bradley, a 27-year veteran of the police department, described it as "unsuitable," meaning lab technicians couldn't gain anything of value from it.

DNA evidence is expected to play a prominent role in the trial. Prosecutors say the murders resulted in a trail of blood to a car used by the suspects, where a pair of pants was found by police with blood from all three children. A pair of pants found at a home in the Baltimore County residence.

But the defense discounted technical DNA evidence, saying everyone involved in the case is related and may share DNA traits. Additionally, Sherman said the defense will try to pin the blame on the family's patriarch, Victor Espinoza.

Bradley testified on Monday that the family often glanced at Victor Espinoza before answering police questions. The detective said the children's father, Ricardo Quezada, was "reluctant" to talk.

On Tuesday, Bradley testified that both Victor Espinoza and Ricardo Quezada refused to speak to him at one point during the investigation and asked for a lawyer.

In opening statements last week, Rhodes said Victor Espinoza, who is not charged with a crime, made extra money by helping bring illegal immigrants from Mexico to the United States for $2,500 a person.

The family's apartment where the children were killed was in Victor Espinoza's name. Rhodes said Friday that documents show numerous phone calls between Victor Espinoza and Policarpio Espinoza just before and after the murders.

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/4867940/detail.html

Video Taped Evidence Accidentally Erased In Slain Children Trial

POSTED: 1:13 pm EDT August 18, 2005
UPDATED: 1:54 pm EDT August 18, 2005

BALTIMORE -- Jurors got some bad news on Thursday when they paused in their deliberations of a gruesome triple murder case to take another look at a video tape: it was accidentally erased.

The tape of television news coverage shows how family members reacted after the nearly decapitated bodies were found, and jurors asked to see it again.

"Folks, we've got a problem," Judge Thomas Ward told the jury after the mishap.

The tape apparently was recorded over while it was being set up, as jurors sat looking up at a television screen waiting to see it.

"I can't show it to you because it's gone," the judge said.

The jury was unable to see the replay of grieving mother Mimi Quezada with her head in her hands as her husband tried to console her outside their apartment in May 2004. Their expressions are important because police detectives testified that family members seemed unemotional in the initial hours after the bodies were found. Defense attorneys have tried to contradict that assessment. The video was shown earlier in the trial.

Jurors were in their third full day of deliberations in the case against Adan Canela, 18, and Policarpio Espinoza, 23. The Mexican immigrants are accused of conspiracy and first-degree murder in the slayings of 9-year-old Ricardo Espinoza, Junior, and his sister, 8-year-old Lucero Espinoza and their 10-year-old male cousin, Alexis Espejo Quezada.

Timothy Dixon, an attorney for Policarpio Espinoza, said he would try to find another copy of the news report.

"The machine has been malfunctioning the whole trial," Dixon said outside the courtroom.

The tape mishap was an added technical glitch in a trial bedeviled by a poor sound system in the courtroom. Jurors, lawyers and the judge have regularly complained about being unable to hear witnesses.

Ward has criticized the design of the witness stand, saying the microphone is mounted too far away from the witness.

"It's that darn microphone," Ward said last week, before telling a witness to "talk like you're mad."

To another witness, Ward instructed: "You've got to talk as loud as you would on the soccer field."

Soft-spoken witnesses have sat directly in front of the jury box. Jurors have been seen raising their hands to indicate they cannot hear someone.

Interpreters also have complained.

"The interpreter cannot hear the witness," Marta Goldstein told the judge last week in the middle of testimony.

Attorney Nick Panteleakis also has pointed out the poor acoustics in the courtroom, where testimony began July 8.

"A lot of people have trouble hearing due to the way this courtroom was built," he said.

Stay with TheWBALChannel.com and 11 News for the latest news updates.

**Brian503a** · 09-01-2005, 01:38 AM

www.baltimoresun.com

Motive in killings remains unclear
Jury deliberations begin in case of children's deaths; Defense calls evidence 'contrived'

By Julie Bykowicz
Sun Staff

August 16, 2005

Despite five weeks of testimony, the reason behind the slashing deaths last year of three elementary school children in Northwest Baltimore is "some secret buried in the family," a prosecutor told jurors in her closing arguments yesterday in the trial of the two relatives charged in the killings.

Prosecutors repeatedly addressed the issue of motive as the Baltimore Circuit Court trial of Policarpio Espinoza and Adan Canela drew to an end. The jury began deliberating about 4 p.m. and will continue this morning.

Defense attorneys in their closing arguments hammered on what they said is a lack of evidence in the case. Espinoza's attorney accused police of being so eager to solve the crime that they railroaded Espinoza and Canela, whom he said got along well with their relatives and would have had no reason to kill the children.

Almost from the time the children's bodies were discovered more than 14 months ago, investigators and others have been transfixed by the unanswered question of motive.

Defense attorneys for Canela suggested during the trial that Canela's father, Victor Espinoza Perez - who is the eldest brother of Espinoza and Ricardo Espinoza Perez, the father of two of the slain children - was responsible for illegally transporting people from Mexico and had a romantic interest in one of the mothers of the slain children. Neither suggestion fully developed into a theory for the crime.

Prosecutors throughout the trial said Espinoza and Victor Espinoza Perez's wife exchanged a flurry of phone calls the day of the killings, raising suspicions about her. Canela also had propositioned Maria Andrea Espejo Quezada, the same woman his father was interested in, her testimony revealed. She said she rejected both men.

Assistant State's Attorney Tony N. Garcia called the crime "a horror story. No motive is good enough." But when Assistant State's Attorney Sharon R. Holback gave the state's rebuttal closing arguments hours later, she said rhetorically: "We do know what the motive is, don't we?"

She referred to a family secret, saying the children, Lucero Espinoza, 8, her brother Ricardo Espinoza, 9, and their male cousin Alexis Espejo Quezada, 10, lived "with parents who were not free to protect them." She compared their parents' plight with that of slaves in early America and the children's brutal deaths to those of Jews and Muslims during the Inquisition.

The three children were found beaten and nearly decapitated May 27, 2004, in the family's Fallstaff apartment. The boys also were strangled.

Their uncle, Espinoza, 23, and cousin, Canela, 18, were arrested hours later and charged with three counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They could receive life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors returned to the theme they developed at the trial's opening, again urging jurors to "follow the trail of the children's blood." This time, Holback pointed to the defendants and added: "Because it leads to them and they are guilty."

Timothy M. Dixon, an attorney for Espinoza, argued that what prosecutors showed the jury was "manufactured evidence and contrived evidence" that has been "wrapped in grief, anger and fear."

Much of Dixon's argument was that a forensic scientist who testified about gathering the critical DNA evidence in the case had a financial incentive to "manufacture evidence." He said Salvatore Bianca, a former Baltimore Police Department crime lab employee, "saw evidence that no one else saw."

Bianca used a vacuuming device that he invented to suction debris, such as skin cells, from the interior of bloody articles of clothing that prosecutors used to link the defendants to the crime. Dixon said the scientist stands to make "millions of dollars" if he can prove that his invention works, drawing a chortle from Bianca, who was sitting in the courtroom.

James Rhodes, an attorney for Canela, said there is so little evidence against his client that police and prosecutors just "grouped him together" with Espinoza.

"Based on the evidence, I believe that he's innocent," Rhodes said of Canela. "But one thing I'm certain of is that they haven't proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt."

During an hourlong closing argument before the defense attorneys spoke and an hourlong rebuttal afterward, the prosecutors ticked through the timeline of the crime and recapped their evidence.

Two women who lived in the same apartment complex as the children testified that they saw the defendants acting strangely in the days before the killings, lurking in the rear of the apartment and ringing the doorbell for a long period of time.

Hours after the children's bodies were found, detectives took many relatives downtown to question them. Among them was Espinoza, who gave police a taped statement in which he said he parked outside the children's apartment at 4:20 p.m., about the time police believe the children were killed.

Espinoza said in the statement that he remained outside while Canela went into the apartment for about half an hour and emerged shirtless through a rear window. But jurors were not permitted to hear that portion of the tape because Canela has a right to confront an accuser and Espinoza could not be forced to testify at his own trial.

Canela, when asked about the crime at police headquarters, replied that he "didn't know [expletive]." Detectives testified that he seemed "cold" and "without a soul."

Yesterday, as he did during other key parts of the trial, Canela wiped at a steady stream of tears. Espinoza has seemed less emotional, although his back usually faces the courtroom audience.

Four articles of bloody clothing link the defendants to the crime, prosecution witnesses testified. Two left-handed work gloves, found inside a Pontiac Grand Am the men used, contained the blood of the children and DNA consistent with Espinoza's.

One of those gloves included a genetic profile that was consistent with Canela's. But a defense witness testified that DNA alleles unique to Canela were absent from the glove so it cannot conclusively be matched to him.

A dark blue pair of "No Boundaries" brand blue jeans that detectives said were in the trunk of the Pontiac had bloodstains matching the children. Debris on the inside of one knee was consistent with Canela's DNA, suggesting that he may have worn the pants.

Another pair of jeans, taken from a fireplace mantle in the attic bedroom of the Baltimore County home where the men lived, also was stained with the children's blood. These jeans contained debris consistent with Espinoza's genetic profile, a Baltimore police DNA expert testified.

Prosecutors also showed the jury a black loafer that Espinoza was wearing when he was arrested. On it was "the teeniest, tiniest drop of Lucero's blood," Holback said during her opening statements.

Defense attorneys have contested the DNA evidence by saying that their clients are so closely related to the victims and the rest of the family that their genetic profiles are all too similar to know for sure whose is whose.

**Brian503a** · 09-03-2005, 02:47 AM

http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/200509 ... -5537r.htm

Illegal-alien murders
Published September 3, 2005

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With Tuesday's announcement of a mistrial in the case of two Mexicans accused of slaughtering three young relatives in Baltimore, this much seems clear: It is doubtful that anyone will ever be found criminally responsible for the May 27, 2004, butchering of three children.

One of the few areas on which the prosecution and defense agreed was that the murderers (like the young victims) were illegal aliens who were related to the children. They disagreed over the identity of the killers, and it remains an open question to this day, with defense attorneys suggesting that another family member was culpable. From the beginning, the investigation was hampered by the shameful refusal of the immediate family of the victims and the accused (all of them illegal aliens) to cooperate with investigators.

A retrial of the defendants -- Adan Canela, 17, and Policarpio Espinoza, 22-- has been scheduled for March 1. But absent the magical appearance of some new piece of incriminating evidence against the defendants, we ask: to what end? What makes prosecutors think that the result will be any different the next time?

Today, more than 15 months after the crime, and following five weeks of testimony, we still do not know who murdered 10-year-old Alexis Espejo Quezada Jr. and his 9-year-old cousins Lucero Solis Quezada and Ricardo Solis Quezada Jr. Jurors said they deadlocked 6-6 on Mr. Canela and 8-4 in favor of convicting Mr. Espinoza.

One problem, noted by a juror who spoke to reporters after the verdict, was prosecutors' failure to offer a motive for the slayings. Shortly after the crime occurred, police suggested that the children were killed because their parents had failed to pay off the "coyotes" who had smuggled family members into the United States. But before the trial began in July, prosecutors said they would offer no motive, and would instead attempt to win convictions based on DNA and other physical evidence.

After the trial ended, the parents and other relatives of the murdered children joined defense attorneys at a Baltimore law office and declared themselves to be "happy" about the mistrial. But no decent person could be happy about what has occurred here: Three children have been brutally murdered, and no one has been held responsible.

**Brian503a** · 09-04-2005, 01:58 PM

www.baltimoresun.com

Eager to return to their lives, jurors recount murder trial
After seeing reports, one doubts his not-guilty vote

By Julie Bykowicz
Sun Staff

September 4, 2005

Exhausted and eager to resume his life, juror Keith Brown went home to his fiancee and 2-year-old son after a hung jury ended the Baltimore murder trial that consumed his summer.

Curiosity pulled him to his computer and to the Internet. Despite weeks of testimony and days of sometimes acrimonious discussions with fellow jurors, Brown said he needed to learn more about Policarpio Espinoza and Adan Canela, the men accused of slashing the throats of three children, the men whose fates he had deliberated.

In the days after being released from their seemingly endless tour of jury duty, the 12 men and women who spent 39 days together but ultimately could not reach any unanimous decisions tried to get back to normal.

One said he feels haunted by the trial.

Jurors described a confusing case in which prosecutors offered no motive for an especially gruesome crime. The suspects' young relatives, ages 8, 9 and 10, had their throats slashed so deeply that they all were nearly decapitated. A retrial has been set for March 1.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Thomas Ward declared a mistrial Tuesday. Until then, the jurors were known only by their jury numbers and through their written questions to the judge. They had to keep secrets from their families and avoid reading or watching any of the daily news coverage of the case.

Doubting vote
Intrigued by the formerly forbidden, Brown said he "jumped on the Internet" as soon as he came home from court for the last time on Tuesday. What he read about Espinoza and Canela, he said, made his stomach turn.

Brown said he was particularly disturbed to read news accounts that gave more details about Espinoza's tape-recorded police statement than what was presented at the trial.

"Now I feel like they very well are guilty," he said, adding that he had voted to convict Espinoza but acquit Canela. "It makes me feel sick because I had the chance to do something."

According to an unedited transcript of the statement, Espinoza said he and his nephew, Canela, had been at the children's apartment complex about the same time as the killings. Espinoza told police he stayed outside in the car while Canela went inside.

But because of evidence rules, jurors never learned that Espinoza had mentioned Canela.

"I just wish that had been explained to us," Brown said. "Not knowing that, it seemed so weird for police not to ask about Adan. We couldn't figure out what was going on with that statement."

Jurors' efforts
Brown's account of what happened inside the jury room has his fellow deliberators deeply engaged in their effort to understand what happened as they endeavored to reach an appropriate, unanimous verdict. They undertook several ambitious tasks, which could help explain the unusual length of the deliberations that lasted 10 full days.

In the end, jurors said they were split 6-6 to convict Canela and 8-4 in favor of convicting Espinoza. Brown said they never discussed individual charges, striving first to get a sense of how each juror felt in general about the guilt or innocence of each man.

A couple of jurors came into deliberations wanting to convict, a couple came in wanting to acquit, Brown said, and the rest were somewhere in the middle.

Brown said no one had an obvious bias against the Baltimore police - who were accused by defense lawyers of misconduct - and several jurors had positive things to say about them. Juror No. 9, for example, is married to a state correctional officer. She could not be reached for comment after the trial.

Motive 'mystery'
Other jurors shared their impressions as they walked out of the courtroom.

Mike Johnson said motive "was the big mystery." Others said the absence of a clear motive didn't matter. Two jurors said they believed a prosecutor's assertion that the motive was "some secret buried deep within the family" - but didn't quite know what to make of that.

One juror, who refused to allow her name to be published and said she voted to convict both men, said jurors saw a family conspiracy.

Juror Henrietta Butler, who said she voted to convict both defendants, said no motive would have been good enough to comprehend such a brutal crime.

During deliberations, jurors filed into a room behind the dimly lit second-floor courtroom at 9:30 each morning. The jury room was crammed with many of the 300 exhibits that were entered as evidence in the trial, and a chalkboard that they could use to try to make sense of it all.

Brown said they began each day by deciding topics they wanted to cover. They'd flip through their notebooks - Brown said he filled two and a half, and that some jurors even filled three - to see who had taken the best notes on a particular topic. That juror would lead the discussion, he said.

One day, with Brown taking the lead, the jury set out to create a timeline of the day the children were killed and mesh it with Espinoza's cell phone records. They wanted to determine, Brown said, where Espinoza was at the time of the slaying - police said about 4:30 or 4:40 p.m. - and in the hours afterward.

Jurors had heard testimony about a pair of stained jeans recovered from the Baltimore County home where the defendants shared a bedroom, and numerous people said Espinoza and Canela looked freshly showered when they arrived at the crime scene to comfort grieving family members about 7:30 p.m.

Brown said the jury wanted to see if those points of reference would match with the calls Espinoza made and received.

Some jurors thought everything fit together perfectly. Others, Brown said, thought the times made no sense.

DNA questions
The complicated DNA evidence took up hours of deliberations, Brown said.

The jeans at the house, as well as two bloody gloves in a car the defendants used, contained debris, such as skin cells, consistent with Espinoza's genetic material. Another pair, recovered from the car, had debris consistent with Canela's.

That debris was collected with a vacuuming device invented by a Baltimore police forensic scientist. Defense attorneys questioned whether the scientist, Salvatore Bianca, had a financial stake - he has been trying to patent and sell his invention - in the results.

Jurors were listening, Brown said. During deliberations, jurors wondered why police would use such a new and relatively untested device, Brown said.

"Things like that," he said, "left room for the defense attorneys to jump right in."

Johnson, who declined to say how he voted, said that as jurors picked through evidence, "Some things just didn't seem right."

"It was the blood, it was the time frame, it was the cell phone situation," he said. "The blood just didn't seem right. DNA was a factor."

Group relationship
The dozen or so notes jurors sent during deliberations and some of their 60 or so written questions during the testimony hinted at discord, with factions developing. There were reports at one point that at least some jurors had stopped working on the case and were sitting in corners or listening to headphones. Judge Ward said he heard jurors shouting at each other once.

But Brown said times of strife were rare. Many times, he said, the entire jury would eat lunch together, usually at a local place called Foodtopia. Jurors tried the courthouse cafeteria but kept bumping into lawyers in the case, which Brown said made them uncomfortable.

The jury bonded so much that its seven women and five men are planning a reunion dinner in a month or so, Brown said. They'll dine together again - this time without the stress.

**Brian503a** · 02-11-2006, 12:52 AM

http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_041111021.html

Feb 10, 2006 11:10 am US/Eastern

Retrial Postponed In Espinoza Case

(AP) BALTIMORE, Md. The retrial of two Mexican immigrants accused of killing their three young relatives has been postponed because prosecutors have submitted new DNA evidence.

Defense attorneys for Adan Canela and Policarpio Espinoza say they need more time to review the evidence.

The retrial had been scheduled for March first. Attorneys are meeting today with an administrative judge to set the new date.

Prosecutor Sharon Holback says additional DNA testing was done on evidence that already had been in police custody. She also says more sophisticated testing was done.

Attorney Nick Panteleakis, who is representing Espinoza, says there are between 300 and 400 pages of documents that need to be examined.

Espinoza and Canela are accused of slashing the throats of three children in a Baltimore apartment in May 2004.

Espinoza is the uncle of the dead children, and Canela is a cousin.

The first trial ended in a hung jury in August.

**Brian503a** · 06-22-2006, 02:54 AM

http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_172172035.html

Jun 21, 2006 5:17 pm US/Eastern

Re-Trial Starts Tomorrow For Decapitation Murder
Two years later, murder of three small children remains a puzzle
(AP) BALTIMORE It's been more than two years since parents found the nearly decapitated bodies of three small Mexican children in a west Baltimore apartment.

Tomorrow's retrial of 19-year-old Adan Canela and 24-year-old Policarpio Espinoza will revisit a complicated and emotion-laden case that remains shrouded in mystery despite a trial in 2005 that lasted nearly two months before ending in a hung jury.

The men are accused of slashing the throats of 9-year-old Ricardo Espinoza Junior and his sister, 8-year-old Lucero Espinoza and their 10-year-old male cousin, Alexis Espejo Quezada.

In the first trial, prosecutors spent a lot of time on DNA evidence. They're expected to focus on it again, this time bolstered by advances in testing technology.

At a February hearing, the prosecutor said additional evidence was tested and more sophisticated D-N-A tests were used. She says the new tests significantly improve the case.

Canela and Espinoza are charged with three counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy and face life imprisonment if convicted.

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