Thread: IA to face trial in shooting death at MO. swimming hole | Alonzo Foster, Jr.

Man to face trial in shooting death at popular Missouri swimming hole
BY JULIE STEWART SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Posted on Sunday, August 17, 2008

GAINESVILLE, Mo. — A man accused of killing an Arkansan at a popular swimming hole will face a murder charge, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Jesus Sesena-Murrieta, 27, will be bound over for trial in Ozark County Circuit Court on felony charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action, Associate Division Circuit Judge John Jacobs ruled at the close of a nearly threehour hearing.

Jacobs rejected a defense motion for bail for Sesena-Murrieta, who has been held in the Ozark County jail since the July 20 shooting death of Alonzo M. Foster Jr., 22, of Ash Flat.

Foster was shot four times at the swimming hole on private property on Lick Creek, a few miles north of the Arkansas state line.

Security was extremely tight for the hearing, with more than 20 uniformed and plainclothes officers inside and outside the courthouse in the county seat of Gainesville, which has 632 residents.

Ozark County Sheriff Raymond Pace said his office had received information about death threats against Sesena-Murrieta, prompting the increased security.

Spectators passed through two security checkpoints, where officers used hand-held metal detectors, before entering the second-floor courtroom.

Several members of the Howell County, Mo., SWAT team were stationed inside the courtroom, including three officers carrying automatic weapons.

At least three dozen relatives and friends of the victim packed the courtroom.

“If there were any threats made, they didn’t come from us,â€

Moving to Americans Killed by Illegals forum.