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Thread: Alfredo Sotelo-Gomez Sentenced to LWOP for the 2008 FL Slaying of Maciel Martin Videla

  1. #1
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    Alfredo Sotelo-Gomez Sentenced to LWOP for the 2008 FL Slaying of Maciel Martin Videla

    First-degree murder trial continues today in Greenacres teen's death

    The first-degree murder trial of 29-year-old Alfredo Sotelo-Gomez continues today, with testimony expected from Juan Urdialez, termed by the defense as the prosecution's "star witness."

    Sotelo-Gomez could face the death penalty if convicted in the killing of Maciel Martin Videla, 17, of Greenacres.

    Videla was found dead in a western Palm Beach County canal in 2008. He was stabbed 15 times in the head, neck and back and his throat slit.

    Urdialez was allegedly present at the murder scene, yet has never been charged.

    Urdialez identified another man he knew personally who also was allegedly present at the murder scene - Julio Gomez. "This is Julio who I witness involved in the murder," he wrote on a photo and signed for a detective. Yet prosecutors later dropped Gomez's first-degree murder charge, acknowledging they had arrested the wrong Julio Gomez.

    An undercover narcotics agent testified Tuesday that Sotelo-Gomez told him not to deal with Videla because he was a possible snitch.

    "'Don't worry,'" the agent said Sotelo-Gomez advised him in December 2008. "I'll take care of him tomorrow.'"

    Videla was found dead shortly after.

    As the trial began Tuesday, Assistant State Attorney Jacqueline Charbonneau told jurors Sotelo-Gomez and group of other men planned to make Videla deaf and blind so he could not snitch again. They lured him into their car and drove west where Sotelo-Gomez pinned Videla's arms behind his back and another man slit his throat.

    Videla's girlfriend, 20-year-old Adriana Rodriguez, also is on trial this week with Sotelo-Gomez. She is not accused of direct involvement in the attack on Videla, but the state contends she lured him to the men who would ultimately kill him. Rodriguez was complicit in the plan, Charbonneau told jurors, because she owed Videla money and didn't want to pay him.

    http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/cr...s-1379484.html

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    Key witness testifies in West Palm Beach death penalty case



    A key witness in the death penalty case against Alfredo Sotelo-Gomez testified Wednesday about driving to the scene of 17-year-old Maciel Videla's murder, watching as another man slit Videla's throat.

    "Only thing I heard him gurgling a bit," said Juan Urdialez, flatly recounting Videla's murder like he would a history lesson.

    Urdialez testified he saw Sotelo-Gomez pin Videla's arms behind his back while another man, Diego "Yogi" Nunez, slit his throat because they thought Videla was snitching to police about their drug dealing. Urdialez said he never reported anything to police, fearing what would happen to him.

    "I was scared. I did not know what to do," Urdialez said.

    Both Sotelo-Gomez, 29, and Videla's girlfriend Adriana Rodriguez, 20, are on trial, charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping.


    Adriana Rodriguez, a codefendant in the murder of Maciel Videla, reacts during testimony by Juan Urdialez on Wednesday, April 6, 2011, in West Palm Beach.
    Yo hand me a my eyebrows ain't right!

    Prosecutors Andrew Slater and Jacqueline Charbonneau are seeking the death penalty for Sotelo-Gomez.

    Rodriguez is accused of a lesser role in the murder, luring her boyfriend to the men who would drive away with him from the El Toro Loco bar and kill him in 2008.

    Urdialez claims he did not know of their intent to kill the Greenacres teen, nor did he know where they were going.

    Urdialez, who has worked as a security guard at the state tuberculosis hospital in Lantana, has never been arrested or charged in the murder - a point defense attorneys Nellie King and Joe Walsh plumbed at length Wednesday on cross-examination as some of the jurors raised their eyebrows.

    Urdialez has said he followed directions given to him by Sotelo-Gomez on where to drive. Defense attorneys brought out on cross-examination that Urdialez's aunt's trailer is some 200 yards from the scene.

    Urdialez identified for police another of the men allegedly at the scene of the murder, Julio Gomez, a friend he knew from the bars and had partied with that night.

    Urdialez signed for a detective a photo of a Julio Gomez declaring "This is Julio who I witness involved in the murder." It turned out it was a different Julio Gomez, jailed five months before his release.

    Today, jurors are expected to hear statements to police by Sotelo-Gomez and Rodriguez, in which they implicated themselves to some degree.

    Testimony is expected to continue into next week.

    http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/cr...h-1381692.html

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    Jury convicts Sotelo-Gomez in slaying of Greenacres teen

    WEST PALM BEACH — WEST PALM BEACH – A jury today convicted Alfredo Sotelo-Gomez of kidnapping and first-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Maciel Videla.

    Sotelo-Gomez, 29, will now face a possible death-penalty, but the date for the trial's penalty phase was not immediately set following the verdict.

    Sotelo-Gomez was accused of participating in the abduction and murder of Videla in December 2008. The body of the Greenacres teen was found in a canal in suburban Lantana. Sotelo-Gomez and others suspected Videla of snitching on their drug dealing.

    A key witness who says he was at the scene testified he saw Sotelo-Gomez pin Videla's arms behind his back while another man, Diego "Yogi" Nunez, slit the young man's throat.

    "Only thing I heard him gurgling a bit," testified Juan Urdialez flatly. Urdialez is an uncharged witness working with prosecutors.

    Both Sotelo-Gomez, 29, and Videla's girlfriend Adriana Rodriguez, 20, were tried together with separate juries on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping.

    Rodriguez is accused of a lesser role in the murder, luring Videla to the men who would drive away with him from the El Toro Loco bar and kill him. Rodriguez's jury began deliberations late this morning.

    A defense attorney for Sotelo-Gomez, Ann Perry, declined to comment on the verdict.

    http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/cr...s-1393695.html

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Any updates on this case? It seems like a slam dunk for the prosecution.

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    Penalty phase begins July 22, 2011 in courtroom 11G at 9:30 a.m.

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    Man gets life sentence in murder of Greenacres teen

    WEST PALM BEACH — A judge this afternoon sentenced Alfredo Sotelo-Gomez to life in prison this afternoon for participating in the 2008 murder of a Greenacres teen.

    Sotelo-Gomez, 29, faced a possible death sentence for the murder of 17-year-old Maciel Martin Videla, but Crcuit Judge Stephen Rapp said his lack of criminal history, brutal childhood and other factors in the case all contributed ot his findings that life in prison was the more appropriate sentence.

    A jury in April convicted Sotelo-Gomez of kidnapping and murder. A witness in the case, who wasn't charged in the murder, said Sotelo-Gomez helped lure Videla to his death and pinned Videla's arms behind his back while another man, Diego "Yogi" Nunez, slit the young man's throat.

    Prosecutors say Videla was killed because the men suspected he was snitching about their drug dealing. Videla's body was later discovered in a canal.

    Two forensic psychologists this morning testified that Sotelo-Gomez suffers from a variety of mental illnesses, including a personality disroder and post-traumatic stress disorder brought on from the death of his mother a decade ago as the two crossed a 35-mile stretch of Mexico desert trying to get to the U.S.

    "I find him sad. I have empathy for him. And I would also ask that the court to have empathy for his situation," defense attorney Nellie King told Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp.

    King also told Rapp that she thought Videla's girlfriend Adriana Rodriguez, 20, was equally responsible for Videla's death because she lured Videla to the men who would drive away with him from the El Toro Loco bar and kill him.

    Sotelo-Gomez and Rodriguez faced trial together but had separate juries. Rodriguez's jury also convicted her of kidnapping and murder. Rapp sentenced her to life in prison for the murder and 30 years for the kidnapping. Prosecutors had not sought the death penalty for her.

    Assistant State Attorney Andrew Slater told Rapp today that there was no comparison between Rodriguez and Sotelo-Gomez's roles in Vedela's murder. Slater also rejected defense attorneys' beliefs that the trauma Sotelo-Gomez experienced during his journey to the United States should excuse him from a death sentence.

    "Everybody in this world suffers some trauma in their lives," Slater said. "It is not a mitigation for murder."

    After the sentencing, Videla's family members said they had mixed feelings about he outcome.

    Videla's father, Oscar Sanchez, said he thought Sotelo-Gomez deserved a harsher sentence than Rodriguez, given that Sotelo-Gomez actually participated in the murder.

    "As I stated when I was in court, I have respect for the laws of the laws of the United States, but I respect even more that laws of our God," Sanchez said in Spanish. "I can dwell with this with the faith that I have in the Lord."

    http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/cr...s-1636701.html

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