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Week 1 Recap of the Raul Cortez capital murder trial
A look back at the first week of the trial of the first suspect to face capital murder charges for the Truett Street murders.
Monday - A jury of seven men and seven women filed into the Collin County auxiliary courtroom to watch Raul Cortez offered a loud, bold "not guilty" to five counts of capital murder for the deaths of Rosa Barbosa, Mark Barbosa, Austin York and Matthew Self.
First Assistant District Attorney Greg Davis told the jury he would not only take them through the physical and forensic evidence against the defendant, but he would also review the mistakes made by the McKinney Police Department that led to the arrests of James Jones, Jecory May and Calvin Walker, and the events that led to the resignation of former McKinney Police Det. Randall Vandertuin.
Davis opened the state's case by calling Nilvia Jasso, a friend and co-worker of Rosa Barbosa at the Cliff's Check Cashing business where she worked, to the stand. She claimed she planned to go for a walk in a local park before the night of the murders. She didn't learn her friend had been killed until that following weekend.
Davis also interviewed the family members and police officers that discovered the grisly scene. Robert Barbosa, Mark's brother, discovered the bodies of his brother, aunt and friends and called 911. Robert said Self was still breathing and he held him and cried while he waited for police to arrive. McKinney Police Sgt. Drew Caldwell testified that he responded to the burglar alarm at the check cashing business and the shooting at Rosa's home on the night of the murders.
Sgt. A.P. Davison of the Texas Rangers took the jury through the subsequent investigation of the quadruple homicide. He said James Jones following his arrest for aggravated kidnapping confessed to being in the home on the night of the murders. He also named Jecory May and Calvin Walker as the triggermen. He was able to provide some details on the setting, but wasn't able to lead police to the weapons. He also changed his story from hearing an argument over a drug debt with Mark followed by gunshots, and then admitting to killing and torturing Rosa for access to the check cashing business.
Tuesday - Laurie Wilson, Austin York's mother, and Keith Self, Matthew Self's father, took the stand and recalled the day and night they learned their sons had been shot and killed. Both said the boys had been hanging out with Alex and Leonard Barbosa and each had an 11:30 p.m. curfew that they had always honored. Wilson said four crying teenagers arrived at her home early next morning to tell them they heard York had been shot. Mr. Self said he went looking for his pickup truck in the Barbosa's neighborhood. Police later arrived at their home in Melissa to deliver the terrible news that their son had been flown to a Dallas hospital.
Collin County Medical Examiner Dr. William Rohr described the wounds that Mark, Rosa and York sustained in Rosa's home. York had three gunshots to the back of the head, neck and shoulder. Mark had one gun shot wound to the bottom of his head that went in and out of his arm. Rosa also had one gun shot wound to the back of her head, a plastic tie fastened around her beck and red duct tape stretched around her eyes and mouth. Dallas County Medical Examiner Dr. Lynn Salzberger said Matthew sustained a single gun shot wound to the back of his head.
Wednesday - Prosecuting and defense attorneys started questioning the investigation, charges and releases of James Jones, Calvin Walker and Jecory May based on information divulged by Jones following his aggravated kidnapping arrest. Davis called McKinney police Sgt. Steve Riley to the stand and conducted an extensive examination of the investigation that led police to the three original suspects almost a month after the murders were committed.
He said rumors were bouncing around the community since the murders were committed, discussing everything from unpaid drug debts to Rosa cashing checks out of her home, none of which were true. But when Jones, a narcotics criminal informant and drug dealer, was arrested on Apr. 15, he started talking about being in the homes the night of the murders. Investigators believed him at first since he was able to confirm information police had collected, but denied committing the murders.
Riley also testified that several other unrelated suspects admitting to knowing who committed the murders, but those suspects were eliminated since they had ulterior motives for giving information to lessen their charges. The state played a portion of the interview with Jones in which Riley admitted he accidentally left a drawing he made of the murder scene with Jones, and that he could have divulged some of the information from that drawing.
Thursday - Davis presented from forensic evidence collected from the home and Self's stolen pickup truck that led police to eliminate Jones, Walker and May as suspects in the murders. Gary Molina, the CODIS program manager with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said DNA obtained from a torn latex glove stuck to the duct tape around Rosa's head did not match the three original suspects' profiles. Walter Henson, a forensic scientist with the latent print section of the DPS, said he found a fingerprint on a beer can found in the kitchen, but it did also did not match Jones, May or Walker.
Defense attorney Richard Franklin called Riley back to the stand to discuss the MPD's initial investigation of Jones' claims. He confirmed that some witnesses placed May at a party at a motel near the check cashing business on W. University Avenue, but the alibis May provided also said he was at the party sometime before and after the murders.
Riley also said May continued to brag that he was responsible for the murders during his stay in a federal penitentiary on drug distribution charges. The claims were so rampant that Riley said officers had to order May to stop making those claims to fellow inmates.
Friday - Riley remained on the stand for the final day of the week as defense attorneys played more of the interviews investigators had with Jones after his kidnapping arrest.
Jones seemed very open to talk about what he knew in Rosa's home, but as investigators continued to press him for more information, he grew more frustrated and quieter. Investigators pressed him for information and told him he was only giving them half of the truth. Jones laughed at the accusation and responded, "No, I gave you all of it."
Franklin said he hopes the tapes would show the jury "the sloppy police investigation that went on throughout this whole process, not only the first investigation but the second one."
- Compiled from reports filed by Danny Gallagher
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