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

A federal jury will continue deliberations tomorrow in deciding whether Ricardo Sanchez Jr. and Daniel Troya will spend the rest of their lives in prison or be put to death for the 2006 drug-related murders of Jose Luis Escobedo and his family on Florida’s Turnpike.

The 12-member panel began deliberations in the case early this afternoon, ending a nearly two-week hearing where attorneys for the men tried to get them to opt for life sentences for Escobedo, his wife, Yessica, and their 3- and 4-year-old sons Luis Damian and Luis Julian. Prosecutors say Escobedo was a drug supplier to Sanchez and Troya’s boss, Danny Varela, and the pair killed the man and his family to steal the cocaine he was carrying and relieve Varela from a debt.

If jurors in the case cannot come to a unanimous decision on life or death in the case, then sentencing will fall to U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley, who will by law be authorized to impose a sentence no harsher than life in prison.

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.
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While defense investigator Lisa McDermott asked him questions from behind the camera, Ricardo Sanchez III made careful lines, squiggles and circles on a piece of paper with a set of magic markers.

“Where is your daddy?" McDermott asked him.

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

After a short delay, the then 5-year-old answered: "At jail."

A federal jury watched a video in court Wednesday as the boy, nicknamed "3," talked about how much he loved his father Ricardo Sanchez Jr.

The same jury earlier this month convicted Sanchez and another man, Daniel Troya, of killing two boys just a couple of years younger than Sanchez's son along Florida's Turnpike.

Now they are charged with deciding whether Sanchez and Troya will spend the rest of their lives in prison or be put to death for the murders of Jose Luis Escobedo, his wife, Yessica, and their 3- and 4-year-old sons Luis Damian and Luis Julian Escobedo.

Escobedo worked as a drug supplier to Sanchez and Troya's boss, Danny Varela, who the jury convicted on drug and gun charges that will virtually assure he'll spend the rest of his life in prison. Prosecutors say the Escobedos were killed in order to steal 15 kilos of cocaine from Jose Luis Escobedo.

The jury on Wednesday heard testimony from the younger Ricardo's mother, Maria Lopez, as well as her mother Rachel Ramos, with whom Sanchez lived before his attorney Donnie Murrell said he "fell in" with Varela and became a gopher in his drug organization.

Psychologist Daniel Grant testified that Sanchez has an IQ of about 77, just points above the standard level considered to be mental retardation.

Murrell may rest his case on Sanchez's behalf today. Troya's attorney James Eisenberg told jurors Monday he plans to present evidence that Troya suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the death of a childhood friend and suffers from other mental illnesses.

Jurors could begin deliberating the case next week, but on Wednesday morning their eyes focused on the now 6-year-old boy as he spoke through the video recorded just before Christmas and held up for the camera one of several pictures he'd drawn during the interview.

In it, his father and mother were standing together - "shaking hands," he said - and both were next to him.

What do you want to say to your dad?" McDermott asked him

"I love him. You're the best dad," he said. "Merry Christmas to you."

For the murders of Jose Luis Escobedo and his young family, convicted killers Daniel Troya and Ricardo Sanchez in less than two weeks could join the small but growing population of inmates on the federal government's Death Row.

If the 12-member jury that convicted them this month opts for capital punishment at the end of the hearing that begins today, the number of federal Death Row inmates will grow to 57 - a number that, according to death penalty experts, has increased at a time when similar numbers in the state system have dropped.

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

It would mark the first time the federal death penalty has been imposed in Florida since it was reinstated in 1988.

To secure the death sentence against the pair, both 25, prosecutors plan to rely mostly on evidence presented during their weeks-long trial in the Oct. 13, 2006, shooting deaths of Escobedo, his wife, Yessica, and their 3- and 4-year-old sons, Luis Damian and Luis Julian, along Florida's Turnpike at Port St. Lucie.

Defense attorneys for Sanchez and Troya, meanwhile, will try to get jurors to spare the men's lives by showing that violence in their upbringings led them to commit crimes as adults.

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As federal jurors left the courtroom for lunch Wednesday, a picture of 3-year-old Luis Damian Escobedo's tiny face on a medical examiner's table loomed high on a courtroom projection screen, his long, dark eyelashes forever closed above the gunpowder burns that dotted his chubby left cheek and ear.

His aunt, great aunt and grandmothers filed out of the courtroom without looking back, still wiping the tears that minutes earlier had come with loud sobs.

U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley gently told them he was concerned about the effect their emotions would have on jurors and asked them to step outside if the weight of the weeks-long trial became too much to bear.

When they came back, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Carlton continued giving jurors the final words they would hear from him in his case against the two men he says are responsible for the brutal 2006 shooting deaths of Luis Damian, his 4-year-old brother Luis Julian, and their parents, Jose Luis and Yessica Escobedo.

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

"It's a tragedy that the kids were there," Carlton said. "But they were eliminated because they were potential witnesses."

Witnesses, Carlton said, to crimes that carry a potential death penalty for Daniel Troya and Ricardo Sanchez, who allegedly carried out the killings during a carjacking to take the cocaine the children's father was carrying in the family's SUV as they headed south on Florida's Turnpike.

During his closing statements, Carlton reminded jurors of evidence that both men worked for alleged drug-ring leader Danny Varela, who is not charged in the deaths but is on trial for drug conspiracy and weapons charges, as is his girlfriend, Liana Lee Lopez.

Escobedo allegedly worked as a supplier for Varela and was killed to erase a drug debt and to steal 15 kilos of cocaine.

Jurors could begin deliberating the case today or Monday.

Carlton spent much of Wednesday pulling together threads of circumstantial evidence that put Troya and Sanchez along the same stretch of Florida's Turnpike as the Escobedos at the time they were killed. Among them were toll receipts with Troya and Sanchez's fingerprints that appear to link them to the crime scene, cellphone records from the night of the murders, and a suitcase that matched a set of suitcases belonging to the Escobedos later found in a van linked to the scene.

Carlton also reminded jurors that a gun expert matched ammunition from the Briar Bay home where the four defendants lived to the crime scene.

"The reason for that is that's where the killers lived," Carlton said.

Varela's attorney, Robert Gershman, tried to separate Varela from the killings, saying prosecutors tried to "bootstrap" Troya and Sanchez's charges to him by saying he was the boss. Gershman and Troya's attorney, Ruben Garcia, attacked Troya's childhood friend and government star witness Kevin Vetere, who's serving a 12-year prison term after pleading guilty to working with Varela's crew.

Garcia called the story of Vetere, a one-time baseball star, "a true Greek tragedy." Gershman wasn't as kind.

"Mr. Vetere is testifying like a well-trained crackhead, feeding the government whatever it needs for the case," he said.

Sanchez's attorney, Michael Cohen, and Lopez's attorney, Gregg Lerman, are expected to present their closing arguments today.

Prosecutors this morning delivered what so far is the closet thing they have to direct evidence against two men accused in the 2006 killings of a family of four along Florida's Turnpike.

A firearm expert told jurors that bullets found in a gun magazine and a box of ammo found in a Briar Bay home appeared to match some of the bullets that killed Jose Luis Escobedo, his wife, Yessica, and their sons, Luis, Julian and Luis Damian.

Daniel Troya and Ricardo Sanchez could face the death penalty if convicted on car jacking charges in connection with the deaths.

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

Prosecutors say the two worked and lived with Danny Varela, who along with Liana Lopez, are also on trial for drug conspiracy and gun charges.

St. Lucie County Sheriffs Office firearm and toolmark analyst Mark Chapman spent the morning telling jurors about similarities between markings on ammunition found at the group's home and bullets fired at the crime scene.

Particularly, Chapman said 9 mm ammunition found in a box in the home's garage matched bullets of the same caliber at the scene.

Chapman also said a .40-caliber bullet found in a gun magazine at the house had similar markings as .40 caliber-bullets fired at the scene, making it likely that the bullets were at some point in the same magazine clip.

The statements fulfilled a promise Assistant U.S. attorney Stephen Carlton made to jurors in opening arguments in the case more than a month ago when he said prosecutors would tie the group's house to the crime scene.

Sanchez's defense attorney, Donnie Murell, tried to discount Chapman's findings on cross examination, saying the evidence fell short of pointing to a particular shooter.

"None of your examinations say who was holding the gun, do they?" Murell asked Chapman.

No, Chapman replied.

Murell also asked Chapman about national studies that challenged the reliability of the types of comparisons he made.

Prosecutors are expected to rest their case this afternoon. Closing arguments in the case could begin as early as Wednesday.

Inside Danny Varela's bedroom before authorities raided his house, a bed covered in black sheets and Playboy bunny pillows sat to the left of a large black poster showing bundles of cash piled nearly ceiling-high.

Money, and the drugs that Varela and his crew allegedly sold to get it, have been a constant undercurrent throughout four weeks of government witness testimony in the federal death penalty trial involving the murders of Jose Luis Escobedo and his young family.

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

Neither Varela, nor his girlfriend, Liana Lee Lopez, are charged in the murders, but they are facing drug and gun charges along with Daniel Troya and Ricardo Sanchez, the two men charged with crimes connected to the slayings.

Prosecutors are now near the end of their case against the four after calling dozens of witnesses and presenting overwhelming evidence that the group was responsible for pushing large quantities of cocaine throughout South Florida, toting guns and sometimes using them to carry out the violence that had been a part of their lifestyle.

Palm prints from toll receipts have also placed Troya and Sanchez near the scene of the Escobedos' deaths along Florida's Turnpike and Sanchez in the family's SUV after the killings.

But prosecutors will likely conclude their case Monday without providing jurors with a murder weapon or anything close to eyewitness testimony of who shot Escobedo, his 25-year-old wife Yessica and their 3- and 4-year-old sons, Luis Damian and Luis Julian.

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In recorded conversations, Malik Mullino and Danny Varela chatted like two old friends happy to be meeting up again, talking about girls and partying.

Even the coded language they used when they got down to business flowed casually, as if Varela was selling Mullino a video game

“I got a few dollars, man, ” Mullino told Varela.

“I got them in stock, dawg,” Varela answered.

Mullino told jurors in the death penalty case surrounding the murders of the Escobedo family on Florida’s Turnpike that the phrases were code for an exchange of money for cocaine, and that he and Varela were business partners since the spring of 2004.

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

The conversation jurors heard this morning allegedly came more than a week after Varela’s alleged drug associate Jose Luis Escobedo, his wife Yessica, and their 3 and 4-year-old sons Luis Damian and Luis Julian were found shot to death along the side of the highway south of Fort Pierce.

Varela is not charged in the deaths, but two of his alleged associates - Ricardo Sanchez and Daniel Troya - face the death penalty if convicted of federal charges of armed carjacking resulting in death.

Authorities believe the two forced the Escobedo family off the road on October 13, 2006, killing the four before driving the family’s Jeep and a conversion van they were in back to the house they lived in with Varela at 6458 Garden Court.

It was there that Mullino testified that Varela took him more than a week later, handing him a kilo of cocaine and showing him a growing gun collection that included an AK-47 and an Uzi.

What Varela didn’t know was that Mullino, who had been picked up on drug charges earlier that year, had been working as a DEA informant and carried a tape recorder to the meeting.

Testimony in the case continued this afternoon. Prosecutors could wrap up their case within the next two weeks.

A swarm of nearly a dozen officers crouched strategically at exit points around the luxury four-bedroom house in the gated Briar Bay community, making sure no one inside could escape.

They held their posts, waiting for some sign of movement as a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office loudspeaker system outside the house announced the end to Danny Varela’s drug enterprise.

“It basically said we were the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, we had a warrant to search the house and requested that the people inside would exit the house,” sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Daniel Burrows told jurors last week in a drug conspiracy trial against Varela and three others.

Prosecutors say Varela’s drug business at its height had him distributing multiple kilograms of cocaine weekly.

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

It was this business that led to the Oct. 13, 2006, deaths of Jose Luis Escobedo and his family along Florida’s Turnpike and brought a multiple-agency task force to Varela’s home at 6458 Garden Court less than two weeks later.

Burrows and the others chose not to storm into the house because they believed Varela and his housemates - girlfriend Liana Lee Lopez, cousin Ricardo Sanchez and friends Daniel Troya and Juan Gutierrez - had automatic weapons with enough power to pierce bulletproof vests. Snipers stationed around the perimeter said the drawn blinds prevented them from getting a look inside. (more…)

WEST PALM BEACH — The Escobedo family didn’t last six months in south Florida.

Instead, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Carlton said, the family of four met their deaths in a violent, execution-style killing October 13, 2006 at the hands of two men, Ricardo Sanchez, Jr. and Daniel Troya.

See more in the Palm Beach Post here

In opening arguments in the federal death penalty trial of Sanchez and Troya, together with the drug conspiracy trials for Danny Varela and Liana Lee Lopez, Carlton boiled down all the crimes to a single word - drugs. (more…)