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2 convicted in Willcox baseball-bat killing
By Derek Jordan/Wick Communications
BISBEE - A jury of 12 people found two men guilty of the June 2008 murder of a man near Willcox on Tuesday.
There was no noticeable reaction from either Israel Morales Otero or John Edward Romero as the court clerk announced the verdict on charges of first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence.
The two men have been on trial for the murder of Patrick Gleason, 43, since Aug. 24.
Previously, Gleason's girlfriend Annie Luke testified that Otero owed Gleason money for meth, and when the two went to Otero's residence on El Sol Lane on June 2, 2008, Otero offered to give Gleason a plasma television as payment.
Luke testified that, while she remained in Gleason's parked car, she heard several loud pounding noises from inside the residence, after which Romero exited the residence and attacked her with a baseball bat.
According to testimony in the trial:
The two men placed Gleason's body into a Dodge pickup which Romero drove, while Otero followed in Gleason's Mustang with Luke in the passenger seat.
A third man, Jonathan Arthur Ramil, remained at the residence.
While Romero dumped Gleason's body near Brown's Country Store, Otero drove the Mustang through a barbed-wire fence before abandoning it. Otero and Luke were then picked up by Romero, but before they could make it back to Otero's home, the Dodge ran out of gas, so the three were picked up by Ramil.
After they returned, Otero took some meth that had belonged to Gleason and the four smoked it together, Luke testified. It was during this time that Luke said she witnessed Romero hold up a baseball bat and gloat about it being bent.
When cross-examined by Otero's attorney, Tori Bryant, Luke said she cooperated with the men because she was scared to do otherwise.
Gleason's body was found the next day in an area northwest of Willcox, under a mesquite tree with his wrists and ankles tied behind his back, according to deputy county attorney Roger Contreras.
The jury deliberated for about an hour after attorneys made their closing arguments on Friday, before returning to deliberate for an additional two hours Tuesday morning.
Security was tight at the trial, with court security officials scanning each visitor with metal detectors and no fewer than six detention officers present during the verdict's reading.
A sentencing hearing was set by Judge Wallace Hoggatt for Oct. 8 at 8:30 a.m.
In July, Ramil was sentenced to 17 years in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder of Gleason and tampering with evidence.
(Derek Jordan is a reporter at the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review.)
There was no noticeable reaction from either Israel Morales Otero or John Edward Romero as the court clerk announced the verdict on charges of first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence.
The two men have been on trial for the murder of Patrick Gleason, 43, since Aug. 24.
Previously, Gleason's girlfriend Annie Luke testified that Otero owed Gleason money for meth, and when the two went to Otero's residence on El Sol Lane on June 2, 2008, Otero offered to give Gleason a plasma television as payment.
Luke testified that, while she remained in Gleason's parked car, she heard several loud pounding noises from inside the residence, after which Romero exited the residence and attacked her with a baseball bat.
According to testimony in the trial:
The two men placed Gleason's body into a Dodge pickup which Romero drove, while Otero followed in Gleason's Mustang with Luke in the passenger seat.
A third man, Jonathan Arthur Ramil, remained at the residence.
While Romero dumped Gleason's body near Brown's Country Store, Otero drove the Mustang through a barbed-wire fence before abandoning it. Otero and Luke were then picked up by Romero, but before they could make it back to Otero's home, the Dodge ran out of gas, so the three were picked up by Ramil.
After they returned, Otero took some meth that had belonged to Gleason and the four smoked it together, Luke testified. It was during this time that Luke said she witnessed Romero hold up a baseball bat and gloat about it being bent.
When cross-examined by Otero's attorney, Tori Bryant, Luke said she cooperated with the men because she was scared to do otherwise.
Gleason's body was found the next day in an area northwest of Willcox, under a mesquite tree with his wrists and ankles tied behind his back, according to deputy county attorney Roger Contreras.
The jury deliberated for about an hour after attorneys made their closing arguments on Friday, before returning to deliberate for an additional two hours Tuesday morning.
Security was tight at the trial, with court security officials scanning each visitor with metal detectors and no fewer than six detention officers present during the verdict's reading.
A sentencing hearing was set by Judge Wallace Hoggatt for Oct. 8 at 8:30 a.m.
In July, Ramil was sentenced to 17 years in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder of Gleason and tampering with evidence.
(Derek Jordan is a reporter at the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review.)
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