Trial begins for man in 2017 homicide
Man is believed involved in three homicides in 12 days
After shooting Matthew Severinghaus three times, Yoan Santiesteban took his wallet and tried hours later to use his debit card at a bank, according to prosecutors.
In opening statements to jurors on Tuesday, prosecutor Neal Speer said Santiesteban had visited 25-year-old Severinghaus’ foothills home earlier in the day.
This is Santiesteban’s second trial in a string of three homicides over a 12-day period in 2017.
“It was a planned murder. Yoan scouted out Matthew’s location early in
the morning,” Speer said. “He came back later that same day with a gun, went to Matthew’s house, he shot Matthew — not once, not twice, three times — as Matthew was just trying to go to work.”
According to police, Gloria Chavez, Santiesteban’s then-girlfriend, and other witnesses described seeing Santiesteban at the scene of the shooting.
But Santiesteban’s lawyer, John McCall, said his client denies having anything to do with Severinghaus’ death. Chavez made the decision to “point the finger at him,” McCall said, in an effort to “get out of murder charges.”
“She knows that she’s going to go down for this. Because she was there, and there’s no question they can put her there because they have her DNA at the scene. So what does she do? She says, ‘It’s all on him,’ and she strikes a deal.”
Chavez in February accepted an agreement that requires her to testify against Santiesteban in exchange for a six-year sentence. She pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
McCall told jurors there would be no DNA tying Santiesteban to a gun, and that witnesses would not be able to “100 percent identify him.” He said witnesses identified Santiesteban only after his photo was shared on local news reports.
McCall said that his client attempted to use Severinghaus’ debit card at a Wells Fargo branch in order to support Chavez’s drug habit.
“He’s not going to deny that. He was in love,” McCall said.
“He is denying that he ever had anything to do with the homicide of Mr. Severinghaus,” he said.
Santiesteban’s first trial, which began June 19, dealt with the killing of 27-yearold Celina Arrellanes, who was shot as she sat in her boyfriend’s car in May 2017. Jurors could not reach a verdict in that case. He is also facing charges in the death of Samir Al-Abboudy, 44, who was found dead at the Days Inn on Menaul near Princeton on May 14, 2017.
The latest trial before state District Court Judge Brett Loveless is expected to continue through next week.