Thread: Sanchez case is set for trial

Sanchez case is set for trial

By: Chris Michlewicz, Staff Writer
04/19/2007

Law enforcement officers from Parker and New Mexico testified Monday about their interactions with a suspect in a deadly shooting last September.

Ricardo Jaime Sanchez, 33, of Denver faces a first-degree murder charge after allegedly shooting and killing Gustavo Guzman-Ramirez, 19, at a construction site southwest of Dransfeldt Road and Longs Way near Parker.

Judge Nancy Hopf scheduled a 10-day trial to begin at 8:45 a.m. May 15 at the Robert A. Christensen Justice Center in Castle Rock after Sanchez pleaded not guilty during an arraignment hearing in January.

The officers testified during a motions hearing Monday to present evidence to possibly be used during the trial, including statements from the police officers who spoke with Sanchez shortly after his arrest.

Sanchez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, allegedly shot Guzman-Ramirez 15 times in the middle of the street after an altercation on the job site the day before.

Police said he then fled the scene in a white Mazda and headed for the Mexico border. He was arrested later that day in Albuquerque, N.M.

Ramon Casaus, a member of the New Mexico State Police force, said agents with the FBI tracked Sanchez's cell phone signal, enabling the police to apprehend him.

Casaus said Sanchez gave two unwitting hitchhikers a ride from Raton, N.M., to Albuquerque, N.M. The hitchhikers agreed to give Sanchez a ride to Arizona once they picked up a van owned by one of the men.

The white Mazda was found abandoned and a witness told officers he saw three men get into a white van. Police tracked the vehicle to a gas station, where they arrested Sanchez.

Casaus testified that Sanchez did not seem surprised to be under arrest for the alleged murder.

During an earlier preliminary hearing, Parker police detective Penny Vandenberg testified that Sanchez confessed and said he was "happy" and "calm" after the shooting.

Jorge Garcia, a construction worker at the scene, said Sanchez threatened to kill Guzman-Ramirez the day before the shooting during an argument over concrete forms for curbs.

Public defender Kyle Dumler pointed out inaccuracies in a translated transcript of the first police interview.

A Spanish language translator was needed during the interview because Sanchez does not speak English.

Despite an assertion from New Mexico Police Sgt. Miguel Mendez that the translation is correct, he agreed with Dumler that some words have a double meaning and could convey the wrong message if the document were used in court.

Hopf denied Dumler's motion to suppress the document from the jury during the trial.

Robert Schilling, a lieutenant with the criminal investigations unit of the New Mexico State Police, testified that a preliminary gunshot residue test on Sanchez's hand was positive.

Vandenberg and Parker police Lt. Ken LaVelle also testified at the hearing.


http://www.dcnewspress.com/site/tab11.c ... =461&rfi=9

Sanchez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, allegedly shot Guzman-Ramirez 15 times in the middle of the street after an altercation on the job site the day before.

Sanchez is just doing jobs Americans wont do