Thread: Suspects Arrested for Killing Teen(Arkansas)

Suspects Arrested for Killing Teen
One suspect charge with Capital Murder
This article was published on Thursday, January 4, 2007 9:06 PM CST in News
By Melissa Blakely
Email this story Print this story Comment on this story BENTONVILLE --Two Springdale men were arrested in connection with the shooting of a Centerton boy found dead Saturday in Benton County, authorities said.

Benton County Sheriff's Office released the name of two men on Thursday, charged in connection with the killing of Derrick Earl Jefferson, 17, of Centerton.

Jefferson was found dead in a driveway Saturday morning at 4157 N. 40th St., an unincorporated area of Benton County, with one gunshot wound to the head.

With little to no evidence at the scene of the crime, the Sheriff's Office worked 48 hours straight following the incident, and with the assistance of Fayetteville and Springdale Police, found two witnesses that gave investigators enough information to issue search and arrest warrants, Sheriff Keith Ferguson said at a news conference Thursday.

Erickson Dimas-Martinez, 21, of Springdale was arrested Thursday at 6:30 a.m. after police executed a search and arrest warrant at 1408 Thrush St. Apt. B in Springdale. Dimas-Martinez was charged in connection with capital murder, which if found guilty, is punishable to either life in prison without parole or death by lethal injection.

Springdale police arrested Uris Galdamez Magana, 20, of 1672 Tuscan St. in connection with felony charges of first-degree forgery and for a deportation order by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

According to police reports, an immigration agent found identification on Magana belonging to a man serving time in a Puerto Rico prison.
Capt. Mike Sydoriak, investigator with the Sheriff's Office said their investigation also led them to Magana, who police said will be charged in connection with a felony charge of accomplice to capital murder.

Sydoriak said Magana's initial arrest by Springdale police was unrelated to their murder investigation.

Investigators learned through two witness interviews the men were supposed to take Jefferson home from a party at 1672 Tuscan St. but eventually wound up at 40th Street near Springdale. The witnesses told investigators they were at the party with the men and Jefferson, and at the scene of the crime, Sydoriak said.

One man pulled the trigger and one man assisted in the shooting, police said. The gun used in the shooting has not been recovered, Sydoriak said.

Investigators were questioning Dimas-Martinez on Thursday at the Benton County Jail and completed interviews with the witnesses and Magana. Sydoriak said investigators heard one side of the story and hadn't discovered a motive behind the killing, or learned if the killing was gang-related.
The Sheriff's Office did not want to release any further information regarding the investigation until they were through with interviews, Sydoriak said.

Police were unable to identify the body Saturday due to the lack of personal effects but after releasing information to the media on Jefferson's physical description, his grandmother came forward with photographs and was able to make a positive identification, according to the Sheriff's Office news release.

Dimas-Martinez and Magana were being held Thursday in the Benton County Jail and will have a bond hearing before Judge David Clinger at 10:30 a.m. today at the Benton County Courthouse.

there are a lot of reader comments on this article
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/ ... ogcomments

COMMENTS:
Fast Eddie wrote on January 11, 2007 8:49 AM:
"It's only a matter of time before vigilante justice begins to surface in NWA. The generations of citizens who have lived and worked all thier lives, struggled and overcame, supported thier community's and serverved thier country, won't tolerate this influx of proverty, crimes like this, and the drain on our tax dollars and public agencys much longer. It's a tragedy to watch the city coucil on TV and and see so much effort put into utilities and infrastructure and see them ignore the biggest problem we all have. Even hard working nieghbors like mine, a family from El Salvador and a family from Laos, 1st generation Americans, here legally and for the right reasons, say they won't stay much longer in this area if the illegals and the crime and poverty they bring continues to grow. Wake up Springdale, whose next to be killed, your child?"

disappointed wrote on January 11, 2007 10:14 PM:
"to fast eddie, i hear what you are saying. i asked a rogers police officer a year ago how much longer he thought it would be before there was violent white on brown crime as a way for the white man to strike back? he said it would be 2 years in his opinion. to be candid, as one who is an outsider (came down from the north)and has been here only 7 years, i honestly am surprised it has not already begun. i hate that it is even a possibility. there are so many good people here of all stripes but the illegal issue is so angering otherwise good and decent people that i fear the worst. and all of this because politicians seek to gain something from it all."

http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/44457/

Capital-murder charges filed in teenager’s death

By Tracy M. Neal Staff Writer // tracyn@nwanews.com

Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007

BENTONVILLE — Prosecutors filed capital-murder charges Thursday afternoon against two men accused of killing a Centerton teenager.

Derrick Earl Jefferson’s partially unclothed body was found Dec. 30 next to the driveway of 4265 N. 40 th St. in an unincorporated area of Benton County near the Springdale city limits.

Jefferson, 17, died from a gunshot to the head.

Benton County Prosecuting Attorney Van Stone filed criminal information charging Erickson Dimas-Martinez, 21, of Springdale with capital murder and aggravated robbery. Another Springdale resident — Uris Magana-Galdamez — is charged as an accomplice to aggravated robbery and capital murder.

If convicted of aggravated robbery, the men could receive sentences of 10 to 40 years in prison. If convicted of capital murder, the two could be sentenced to life in prison or possibly receive a death sentence.

Stone has not yet announced whether his office will seek the death penalty in the case.

Court documents claim Martinez shot Jefferson as Galdamez looked on after the men left a party in Springdale, claiming to give Jefferson a ride to his home in Centerton. Jefferson had met Martinez and Galdamez at the party. After stopping the car, Martinez — who held a gun — ordered the teen to take off his coat and shirt and to give him the $ 30 Jefferson had offered to pay for gasoline for a ride home.

According to court documents, the men took $ 30 and a coat from Jefferson moments before he was shot.

Two females, who were in the car with Jefferson and the two men, told investigators with the Benton County Sheriff ’s Office that they (the females ) witnessed Martinez shoot the teen.

Martinez denied ever meeting Jefferson and denied any involvement in Jefferson’s death, according to court documents. Galdamez said Martinez told him they were going to get money from Jefferson, according to a probable-cause affidavit in the case. Galdamez saw Jefferson take off his jacket, then heard a shot, the affidavit states.

Galdamez admitted to cleaning the gun, documents show. He said two men he did not know came by his residence and took the gun, according to the affidavit.

Martinez and Galdamez are being held without bond in the Benton County Jail.

Their arraignments are scheduled for 8: 30 a. m. Monday before Circuit Judge David Clinger.

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/ ... raigns.txt

Accused Accomplice Is Juvenile, Attorney Says
This article was published on Monday, January 22, 2007 9:54 PM CST in News
By Robin Mero
The Morning News

BENTONVILLE -- Prosecutors discovered one of the men arrested in the Dec. 30 shooting death of a young man from Centerton is also a juvenile.

Police thought Galdamez Magana, an illegal immigrant charged as an accomplice in the robbery and murder of 17-year-old Derrick Jefferson, was 20 years old.

Magana's attorney presented a birth certificate and passport Monday to show that her client is only 17.

"I will file a motion to have the case transferred to juvenile court," said Marianne Hudson of the conflicts office of the Arkansas Public Defender Commission.

Prosecutor Van Stone plans to fight that transfer, he said Monday, after a hearing before Benton County Circuit Judge David Clinger.

Stone has charged Erickson Dimas-Martinez, 21, with capital murder and aggravated robbery in Jefferson's death and plans to seek the death penalty, he told the judge.
*

But Stone won't be able to do so with Magana if he is a juvenile. Stone could still pursue adult charges and seek a life sentence against Magana for accomplice to capital murder and accomplice to aggravated robbery.

Dimas-Martinez's attorney, public defender Jay Saxton, requested Monday that his client receive a mental evaluation.

Clinger set a March 15 hearing for review.

Jefferson's body was found by a passerby the morning of Dec. 30 in the driveway of a home at 4265 N. 40th St. in south-central Benton County, just outside Springdale.

Police said Jefferson was getting a ride home from Dimas-Martinez and Magana after a party but was ordered out of the car and shot in the head so the two men could have the money in his pocket -- perhaps as little as $30. Two girls who were acquainted with Magana, and who'd invited Jefferson to the party, watched and cried in the back seat. The girls, who are younger than 18, later gave accounts of the crime that helped police identify the men.

The men are held without bond. Police believe Dimas-Martinez is a legal immigrant in the United States on a work permit and Magana is in the country illegally.

According to court documents, Jefferson and friends went to a Fayetteville strip club the night before he died. Jefferson and Wilfredo Cortez then went to Rio Bravo nightclub in Springdale, but it was closed. In the parking lot, they met two girls who invited them to a party at a duplex in east Springdale. The girls had been at the party earlier with Magana, whom they knew as "Jason." Dimas-Martinez was also there.

Cortez decided to leave the party because he felt a man was trying to intimidate him. He told police he left about 1:30 a.m. Jefferson wanted to stay and began asking others to give him a ride home later. He offered gas money, saying he had about $30.

Jefferson, Dimas-Martinez, Magana and the two girls got in Dimas-Martinez's red, four-door Honda.

Dimas-Martinez told Jefferson to drive, eventually ordering him to stop in the driveway of the North 40th Street home. He pulled out a handgun, pointed it in Jefferson's face and ordered Jefferson out of the car, the affidavit states.

Dimas-Martinez ordered Jefferson to remove his coat and shirt and give him the money, then shot Jefferson in the head, the affidavit states.

Police haven't found the murder weapon, but located a .38 shell casing from the driveway where Jefferson's body was found.

They arrested Dimas-Martinez Jan. 4 at a Springdale residence, where he was hiding in a closet. He denied meeting Jefferson and claimed he left the party about 11 p.m. and slept until 10 a.m. Magana was arrested on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.