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Jury sentences Raul Cortez to death
Watch VideoThe first capital murder conviction in the Truett Street murders draws emotional statements from the victims' loved ones and smirks from Raul Cortez following his death sentence.
By Danny Gallagher, McKinney Courier-Gazette
It took almost five years to find a credible suspect that could face prosecution for one of the worst crimes ever committed in the history of the city of McKinney.
But it only took two days of emotional, heart wrenching testimony to convince the jury to sentence him to death by lethal injection.
An emotional range of sad, reflective and sometimes downright angry words were given by family members of Rosa Barbosa, Mark Barbosa, Austin York and Matthew Self to Cortez after a jury of seven men and seven women took almost six-and-a-half hours to answer the questions that implored visiting Judge Webb Biard to send him to Texas Death Row.
Cortez is one of two suspects charged with capital murder for the Truett Street murders committed on March 12, 2004 at Rosa's home. Eddie Ray Williams, the man who admitted on the witness stand to killing Mark and Austin and implicated Cortez and his older brother Javier for participating in the robbery, will face the same charges and the same possible punishment for his role in the robbery and murders. Williams' trial date has not been set as of Monday.
The jury began their deliberations around 3:20 p.m. just after either side offered their closing statements. They worked through the night and even had dinner delivered to reach their decision as family members, members of the McKinney Police and Fire Department and friends of the victims' families patiently waited in the hall and auxiliary courtroom for the jury to return.
The court challenged the jury to answer three questions to determine Raul's punishment: (1) would the defendant likely commit future dangerous offenses, (2) did the defendant intend to kill while committing the act of robbery and (3) should he receive a sentence of life in prison. The jury unanimously answered "yes" to the first two questions and "no" to the third, Biard said.
Raul declined to offer any statement before Biard handed down his death sentence.
The court then gave members of the victims' families the opportunity to speak to Raul face-to-face before turning him over to the Collin County Sheriff's Office's custody and eventual transport to Texas Death Row in Huntsville.
Nancy Self, Matthew's mother, held a picture of her son for Raul to see because "I want you to look on my son's face, the face of the child you took from me."
The gallery could only see the back of Raul's head, but Mrs. Self caught a glimpse of a smirk on Raul's face. It's a reaction she said she had seen during the trial when she took the stand to testify against him and when he took the stand to testify on his own behalf.
"The smirk on your face now tells me you still don't believe you did this," Mrs. Self in a loud, angry tone.
Steve Wilson, Austin York's stepfather, also held a picture of Austin for him to see, even if Raul looked away during the entire statement.
"As Nancy said, you can smile and you can smirk and put on a good display, but at the end of the day, you won't join them in heaven," Mr. Wilson said. "There is only one destination for you, and I think we all know what that is."
Carole Mendez-Kindle, Mark's mother, offered an increasingly harsh and angry statement to Raul, one that prompted defense attorney Douglas Parks to stand and object. A sharp "sit down" came from the victims' families' side of the gallery as Mendez-Kindle and Parks tried to speak over each other before Biard ordered Parks to let Mark's mother finish what she felt she had to say.
"Of course you don't value life because you don't value your own," she said. "I hope you rot in hell because I know I'll rot in there with you because I know the only way I can get to heaven is I'll have to give you forgiveness."
Alex Barbosa offered Raul a chance to examine the scope of the loss he created in these families. He, like the other family members who offered their own statements, described them with a series of glowing, heartfelt superlatives as Raul looked down and tried to keep Alex out of his line of sight.
He described Mark, his older brother, as a mentor who offered him sound guidance and "someone to lean on" during tough times and Rosa, his aunt, as a woman with a big heart who used to make everyone around her as special and needed as a member of her own family.
Austin and Matthew, while not directly related to the Barbosas, were "brothers" to Alex and his siblings, he said.
"We took care of each other like brothers," he said, "because we were brothers."
"You took away something from our family that can never be replaced," Alex said standing in front of Raul with nothing between them except Alex's sad, piercing stare. "But revenge is for God and you will not go to heaven because there is no place for you there."
Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com.
Video recorded and edited by Katie Knickerbocker
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
blondie3438 wrote on Feb 3, 2009 1:42 PM:
" This is a day i have been waiting for. Being close friends of all the families and victims I am very glad that justice has been served. I am very glad he actually made it out of the court room with out getting his butt handed to him "
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