Duo charged in killings gets high-profile lawyers
The father and son accused in the horrific killings of Matthew Guerra, Savanah Soto and their unborn child will be represented by two prominent San Antonio criminal defense lawyers who have worked for many other highprofile defendants.
Monica E. Guerrero has been appointed to represent Christopher Preciado, 19, charged with capital murder-multiple persons, abuse of a corpse and altering, destroying or concealing a human corpse, in the execution-style killings of the young couple and their unborn son.
His father, Ramon Preciado, 53, charged with abuse of a corpse and altering, destroying or concealing a human corpse, will be represented by John J. Kuntz IV, also a court appointment.
The bodies of Guerra, 22, and Soto, 18, were found the day after Christmas in Guerra’s Kia Optima, which had been left at a Northwest Side apartment complex. Both had been shot in the head. Soto was just days away from giving birth to their son, Fabian.
Authorities believe the Preciados and Guerra were engaged in a dispute over drugs.
A third person was arrested in connection with the killings, Myrta Romanos, 47, who authorities believe is the stepmother of Christopher Preciado. Romanos is charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and altering, destroying or concealing a corpse. Court records do not show an attorney on record for her.
Guerrero has been practicing for 30 years as both a defense attorney and at times as a special prosecutor.
She was the lead defense attorney for disgraced former San Antonio attorney Mark Benavides, who is serving an 80-year term in prison for continuous trafficking of persons for forcing women he was defending to have sex with him.
Guerrero also was part of the legal team that defended Anton Harris, referred to as the Medical Center rapist. He is serving a 99-year prison term.
As a special prosecutor, Guerrero secured a 65year prison term for Miguel Angel Montez in 2020 for aggravated sexual assault.
In 2017, Kuntz, whose website indicates he has been practicing law for 23 years in both state and federal courts, represented Pete Ortiz Jr., then 75, who had been on the run for 55 years as a suspect named decades ago in an ambush-style killing that occurred in 1962.
Ortiz was charged with murder with malice, but his case ended up being dismissed in 2018 because of a missing witness.
Most recently, Kuntz represented Alissa Weese, 25, the last of a long-list of co-defendants in a 2020 robbery that at one point had seven people charged with capital murder.
Weese was the driver in the robbery and death of Jasmine Williams, 19, whose piggy bank and credit card was stolen after she was shot to death while her children were at home.
Weese accepted a plea deal reached between Kuntz and prosecutors for 10 years adjudicated probation, with six months in prison.
Romanos and both Preciados are still awaiting their first trial appearances.