Death sought in triple slaying
GLASGOW — Prosecutors in Barren County will seek the death penalty against one of two men charged in a 2009 slaying of three men whose identities remain a mystery.
The Barren County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office filed a notice of aggravators May 28 against Miguel Angel Velazquez, 20, of Cave City.
Velazquez has been charged with three counts of murder and one count each of first-degree robbery and tampering with physical evidence.
His co-defendant, Marcos Omar Bautista, 19, of Cave City, is charged with two counts of complicity to commit murder and one count each of first-degree robbery, tampering with physical evidence and possession of marijuana.
The men appeared Monday in Barren Circuit Court, where Judge Phil Patton set a trial date of Feb. 15 for both men.
Velazquez is being represented by Joanne Lynch and Eric Clark of the Department of Public Advocacy, while Bautista is represented by public defenders Vince Yustas and Shanda West-Stiles.
Lynch said Monday that the notice filed by prosecutors against Velazquez seeks the death penalty because he is implicated in multiple deaths and the allegation that one of the murders occurred during the commission of another violent act, robbery.
Velazquez and Bautista are charged in connection with the discovery of three bodies on Nov. 22 by hunters in a thicket a few miles outside Cave City in the 9100 block of Happy Valley Road.
The victims are identified in the indictments against both men as John Doe No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, and authorities say the victims all worked at a Happy Valley Road farmhouse with Velazquez and Bautista.
According to prior testimony given in the case by Detective Mike May of the Kentucky State Police, Velazquez shot the first victim twice near the site where the bodies were discovered.
The second victim was allegedly shot by Velazquez in a stairwell inside the farmhouse, then beaten by Velazquez with a baseball bat and kicked by Bautista, while the third man was allegedly strangled with a dog collar and beaten with a bat by Velazquez in one of the bedrooms in the farmhouse.
The victims may have been dead for up to a month when their bodies were discovered, May testified.
KSP detectives were able to get a confession from Velazquez, who allegedly provided to law enforcement the location of the weapons used in the killings and implicated Bautista in each incident.
Prosecutors have not sought the death penalty against Bautista, but he has charges pending after allegedly attempting to escape from Barren County Correction Center.
Jail officials allege that Bautista and two other inmates were caught May 2 attempting to escape through a window.
According to Barren County Jailer Matt Mutter, Bautista, Antonio Macedo and Jose Lagunes were involved in the escape attempt.
“They had started chipping away at a window and had actually knocked a small portion of glass out,” Mutter said.
Mutter said the group told authorities they had tried to escape because they knew that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had placed detainers against them in connection with the felony charges each inmate faces, and they wanted to avoid deportation.
Bautista is charged with second-degree escape and second-degree criminal mischief, both misdemeanors.
That case is pending in Barren District Court, where Bautista is being represented by West-Stiles.
The escape case is scheduled to go to trial Nov. 4, according to court records.
http://www.bgdailynews.com/articles/2010/06/15/news/news3.txt
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