A federal jury Wednesday will likely hear their last words from attorneys before deciding whether Ricardo Sanchez Jr. and Daniel Troya will spend their lives in prison or face the death penalty for the 2006 murders of a family of four.

Family slain

Jose and Yessica Escobedo with sons Luis Julian (left) and Luis Damian (right). Husband, wife and two children from Greenacres found shot to death off Florida’s Turnpike in northern Port St. Lucie. More news, photos

Federal prosecutors today presented their last evidence against Sanchez and Troya, both 25, who jurors this month found guilty of the murders of Jose Luis Escobedo, his wife, Yessica, and sons Luis Julian and Luis Damian. Defense attorneys since last week have been trying to convince jurors to spare the men’s lives.

Donnie Murrell, Sanchez’s attorney, has built his case on the facts that Sanchez has a low IQ, grew up in a crime-infested environment, watched his father beat his mother and had a mentally disabled older brother who suffered from violent seizures and is in a prison mental hospital after trying to burn down the family home.

Troya’s attorney James Eisenberg has pointed to several events - including the shooting death of Troya’s friend John Pierre Kamel when Troya was 13, the suicide of a family friend and bad influence from his uncle Isidro - as factors that changed Troya, bringing him to a life of crime.

Prosecutors last week had jurors hear from Escobedo family members, who one by one tearfully recounted how they struggled to cope with their loss. All the while, prosecutors showed jurors picture after picture of the smiling little boys, who were just 4 and 3 when they and their parents were shot to death.

Today they endeavored to unravel the defense efforts, concentrating most of their rebuttal case on Troya. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kastrenakes ended the government’s case with forensic psychologist Michael Brannon.

Last week, defense psychologist Daniel Grant put Sanchez’s IQ at about 77, just a few points above the standard for mental retardation.

Brannon placed Sanchez’s IQ at 89, one point below the average range, but both doctors agreed that Sanchez had the capacity to understand and differentiate between right and wrong.

Prosecutors say Troya and Sanchez worked for convicted drug dealer Danny Varela and killed Escobedo, Varela’s cocaine supplier, to steal the drugs he was carrying and absolve Varela from a debt.

Attorneys on both sides will deliver their closing arguments to jurors Wednesday.

Tags: Escobedo, murders, slaying, Turnpike

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 at 8:14 pm and is filed under Crime, Escobedo trial, St. Lucie County, Stuart. 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.