Gang member acquitted in grisly killing
Not guilty verdict stuns after first trial ended with hung jury
A jury found Mexican Mafia associate Gabriel Moreno not guilty of murder Wednesday in the death of a heroin-dealing rival, surprising many in the courtroom who believed the case’s savage details — including the incineration of the victim’s dismembered body parts on a barbecue grill — would guarantee a different outcome.
It was Moreno’s second trial in the 2014 killing of Jose Luis “PeeWee” Menchaca, whose death was believed by police to be in retaliation for Menchaca stabbing Moreno’s cousin and alleged accomplice, Daniel Lopez.
Menchaca, 35, was beaten with a baseball bat and suffocated. The six-man, six-woman jury deliberated for about six hours, into a second day, before acquitting Moreno, 36.
“It’s awesome, awesome,” said Johnny Torres, 47, who said he was a friend of Moreno’s. “He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I really thought he was gone (would be convicted). I think the jury understood that you can be very upset and near something, but not be the criminal.”
“I am not surprised,” said Moreno’s attorney, Albert Gutierrez. “We only asked for a fair trial, and I think we got it this time.”
But after shaking hands with legal colleagues and recalling that Moreno’s first trial ended with a jury deadlocked 11 to 1 in favor of convicting him, Gutierrez elaborated.
“It is a stunning verdict, because of who Gabriel is and what he looks like,” Gutierrez said, referring to what police say are gang tattoos covering Moreno’s head and neck. “It just shows that the state should indict people for what they actually did, and what they can prove, and not because they want to send them away forever.”
Gutierrez said Moreno would not be released from jail immediately because he was accused of an unspecified offense while in custody. The Bexar County Sheriff ’s Office later confirmed he was charged with possession of a deadly weapon in a penal institution.
Moreno’s retrial featured an assortment of prosecution witnesses who were admitted heroin addicts, career criminals or accomplices to Moreno, one of whom, Candie Dominguez, confessed to chopping up Menchaca’s body and burning parts of it.
Prosecutors had reached an agreement with Dominguez, who had been charged with murder, giving her no more than 30 years if she pleaded guilty and testified truthfully in the other trials.
With its verdict, the jury also apparently disregarded the testimony of security guard Dennis Austin, who allowed Moreno to live at his apartment because his fiancé was Moreno’s cousin.
Austin said he was in the home where the killing occurred, helped hold down Menchaca as Moreno suffocated him, and at Moreno’s direction assisted with moving and burying Menchaca’s body. If he hadn’t obeyed, he would have suffered the same fate, he testified.
“They (Moreno and his cousin, Daniel Lopez) both knew where I lived, where I worked,” Austin said. “Every scenario I played out in my head ended up with them attacking me. I did nothing (to report the crime) and I regret that. But I didn’t talk to anybody.”
State District Judge Ron Rangel declared Moreno’s first trial a mistrial in March. Lopez, 31, who relatives testified was essentially like a brother to him, also initially had a mistrial – a key witness belatedly disclosed she had a mental disorder – but he was found guilty of murder earlier this year and given a life sentence.
Gutierrez, primarily a civil attorney who normally works in the calmer world of petroleum litigation, hammered at Dominguez’s credibility on the stand Monday.
Lead prosecutor Matthew Ludowig, after a post-trial chat with jurors, said he didn’t learn anything specific about what they thought was faulty with his case, but acknowledged the difficulty of using the testimony of criminals and addicts to convict others.
Moreno had previously served time for kidnapping, though a defendant’s prior arrests are normally not allowed in testimony.
“Obviously, we believed he was guilty,” Ludowig said. “I don’t know what the problem was. I told them (the jury) they would be hearing from some people they would not like.”
Moreno did not testify in his defense and listened passively throughout the trial, including at the announcement of the verdict.
“I told him to just act cool, no matter what the verdict was,” Gutierrez said. “But after the bailiffs led him away and I talked to him, there were some tears.”
In his closing argument to the jury, Ludowig projected a photo of Walter White, the deplorablebut-principled methamphetamine kingpin from the TV series “Breaking Bad” and suggested that just because people are criminals doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of telling the truth.
Ludowig reminded jurors that he had previously warned that, “Y’all are not going to like some of our witnesses.”
“Why do we make these deals with people? Some people are much more culpable than others,” he told them.