Opening arguments are expected to begin today in the federal death penalty trial surrounding the 2006 slayings of a young Greenacres family of four along Florida’s Turnpike.

A panel of seven men and five women was picked Monday to decide the drug conspiracy case against Danny Varela, Liana Lee Lopez, Ricardo Sanchez and Daniel Troya. Jurors could impose death sentences against Sanchez and Troya, who are charged in the killings of the Escobedo family.

Attorneys in the case also selected six alternate jurors Monday, bringing an end to two weeks of jury selection that came after more than 2,000 potential jurors received questionnaires in the mail.

In their opening statements, prosecutors will likely show jurors photos of the bodies of Jose Luis Escobedo, 28; his wife, Yessica Escobedo, 25; and their sons Luis Julian, 3, and Luis Damian, 4. All four were found shot to death in a grassy area along the turnpike in Port St. Lucie.

Robert Gershman, defense attorney for Varela, told U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley on Monday that showing the pictures of the family, who collectively were shot 28 times, was unfair to Varela and Lopez because they are not charged in the deaths.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kastrenakes disagreed.

“The simple fact was that this was a drug rip-off that occurred as part and parcel to the drug conspiracy,” Kastrenakes said.

Hurley allowed Kastrenakes and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Carlton to use one photo of the Escobedo family when they were alive and another of their bodies along the turnpike, but he did not immediately allow them to show a third photo of the two boys alone.

Attorneys on Monday also argued issues related to a recorded 911 call that Hurley ordered prosecutors last year to turn over to the defense.

Attorneys for Sanchez and Troya said the call could clear the two men in the shooting, but prosecutors recently filed a motion asking the judge to exclude the tape.

In the motion, prosecutors said the person who made the call was near Fort Drum in Okeechobee County at the time, and that his call had nothing to do with the case.
By DAPHNE DURET, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tags: boy, court, Daniel Troya, Danny Varela, death, drugs, Escobedo, federal, Jose Luis Escobedo, judge, jurors, jury, Liana Lee Lopez, Luis Damian, Luis Julian, Okeechobee, photos, Ricardo Sanchez, shooting, shot, trial, Turnpike, wife, Yessica, Yessica Escobed

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 10:01 am and is filed under Courts, Crime, Port St. Lucie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.