Jury weighing judge shooting case
Jurors must decide whether shooting of District Judge Julie Kocurek was related to fraud ring.
Prosecutors seeking a conviction that could send Chimene Onyeri to federal prison for life needed to prove two things to the jury: that he shot state District Judge Julie Kocurek, and that the attack on the judge was related to a fraud ring that Onyeri is accused of leading.
As jurors began deliberating Wednesday, there was little doubt that Onyeri shot Kocurek — he admitted to it on the witness stand, though he said he wasn’t trying to kill her, only damage her car.
So in closing arguments, both prosecutors and the defense focused on whether the 60 government witnesses, 75 recorded jail calls and 300 images presented as evidence prove that Onyeri’s alleged fraud ring was related to the November 2015 shooting.
Prose c utor Gregg Sofer attempted to tie the two together,
saying the money and other benefits Onyeri received from the enterprise would have ended had Kocurek followed through on a threat to send him to prison for six or seven years for violating his probation.
“All of the reasonable, logical evidence points to the defendant wanting to kill Judge Kocurek,” Sofer said. “When Onyeri goes to prison, the music stops . ... If he goes to prison, the enterprise is going to stop.”
Defense lawyer Victor Arana said the enterprise had nothing to do with the shooting. Onyeri had testified that he thought the sentence she suggested was excessive.
“Is it related to the enterprise or because someone treated someone unfairly?” Arana said.
Onyeri also faces one count of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, six counts of tampering with a witness and seven counts of aggravated identity theft.
Nine witnesses testified to assisting Onyeri in a scheme to forge debit cards using stolen credit information that Onyeri also confessed to from the witness stand. Other former associates accused Onyeri of credit card fraud and tax return fraud, though Onyeri denied involvement in those. A recorded jail phone call captured Onyeri directing an associate to pick up “80 grand” from a stash spot in Onyeri’s car.
Over three days, the 30-year-old Onyeri testified he had only wanted to vandalize Kocurek’s Lexus SUV and that he was surprised to discover through news reports that the judge was sitting in the passenger seat when he fired four times from a .40-caliber handgun. He tried to explain away a text message calling the judge a “lucky bitch,” saying he was suggesting God had been looking over her. He denied sending a separate text with bullet emojis that police found on his phone.
With colorful and often profane language, Onyeri, a college dropout from Houston who never had a legitimate job, admitted to traveling at least four times to Austin to stalk Kocurek at her West Austin home.
He said he had originally planned to kill the judge but changed his mind after taking a liking to her teenage son.
Will Kocurek, now 18, was driving on the night his mother was shot. He exited the vehicle to remove a leaf bag that Onyeri had placed in front of the security gate. Onyeri, who was accompanied by co-defendants Marcellus Burgin and Rasul Scott, testified that he was “elated” to scare the boy with a gun.
Sofer attacked Onyeri’s explanation, calling him a “walking crime ring” and saying the leaf bag tactic was not necessary to damage the vehicle, as he could have shot through the gate.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “There’s no reasonable doubt that his intent was to shoot Judge Kocurek.”
If the jury acquits Onyeri of the racketeering charge, Travis County prosecutors are expected to draw up an attempted murder charge in state court.
Arana, the defense attorney, put on a cap and gown and pretended to be Onyeri’s nephew while giving a speech to the University of Houston Law School class of 2045. Arana urged the students to not rush to judgment, saying that Onyeri was eventually acquitted in this trial, just as he was years earlier in an aggravated robbery trial in Houston.
Arana characterized the defense as the underdog, lamenting the vast resources available to the government’s prosecution team. Sofer was not amused.
“Apparently all of the resources the government gave me did not include a costume,” Sofer fired back.
Jurors deliberated for more than an hour before press time. They were scheduled to return to the courthouse at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.