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Man takes a plea deal in Hunter murder case
By Matt LeedyThe Fresno Bee
(Updated Tuesday, February 3, 2004, 5:40 AM)
E-mail This Article Printer-Friendly Format Receive the Daily Bulletin Subscribe to Print Join a Forum Jurors returned to a Fresno County courtroom Monday morning to find one young man missing from a defense table where he had sat for almost two weeks, accused of robbing and murdering 19-year-old D.J. Hunter.
Moments earlier, Alfred Cruz accepted a plea agreement.
The murder charge was dropped, and Cruz, 19, escaped a possible life sentence. In exchange, he admitted to robbing Hunter and agreed to testify in a separate murder trial.
Cruz's attorney, Eric Green, pleaded with him not to take the deal offered by prosecutor Dennis Peterson. Green believed he could have won an acquittal, but Cruz could not resist the chance to walk away from a murder trial. He faces a possible six-year prison sentence.
Advertisement "I fought bitterly with him in making the decision," Green said. "I did advise my client not to take the deal. I didn't like being put in a situation where they're dangling a six-year carrot in front of him." Cruz will be sentenced on the robbery charge sometime after he testifies in the murder trial of Jesus Lopez, 29; Daniel Justin Ortega, 25; and Stacey Daniella Dyer, 23. That trial is scheduled to begin March 15. The District Attorney's Office has not decided whether it will seek the death penalty.
If Cruz does not give truthful testimony, he could be retried for murder. He returned to Fresno County Jail on Monday in shackles.
He faced murder and robbery charges along with Jose David Romero, 19, and Martin Castro, 18. They had a separate trial, which began Jan. 20 in Fresno County Superior Court, because they were juveniles on March 22, 2002, when Hunter was driven to a Fresno County field, shot in the head and burned inside his truck.
In testimony Thursday, Cruz implicated other suspects in the murder of Hunter, a Fowler High School graduate who had hoped to play basketball at Reedley College.
Cruz said Romero rode in a van that followed Hunter's truck to the field where he was killed. Cruz also testified that Romero talked about tying Hunter up and stealing the rims from his truck.
Cruz said Castro also was at a Fresno home where Hunter was robbed of his wallet and beaten before being driven away.
On Monday, Cruz was called a liar, scoundrel and murderer by defense attorneys for the two teenagers still facing murder charges.
"This is a guy who will do anything in the world to save his butt," said T.J. Richardson, Castro's attorney.
"He was pulled out of the gallows and made a star witness," said Ernest Kinney, Romero's attorney.
Earlier Monday, robbery charges against Romero and Castro were dismissed by Judge Wayne Ellison.
Peterson still asked the jury to convict the teenagers for a "wolf pack attack" and murder that occurred during a robbery, kidnapping and carjacking.
Castro kicked Hunter when he was first beaten, Peterson said in his closing statements to the jury. Castro also was in the Fresno County field when Hunter was shot three times in the head, execution style, and burned along with his truck, Peterson argued.
"He was involved in this case from the beginning to end, including the time when D.J. Hunter was brutally killed," Peterson said of Castro.
If convicted of the murder, the teens could be given life sentences. But because the robbery charges were dismissed, they also could be paroled, Kinney said.
Richardson said Castro was asleep in his home when Hunter was beaten, locked inside the back of his truck and killed.
Kinney argued that Romero was a lookout and believed Hunter's truck was being stripped of parts. Romero had no idea Hunter was inside the truck or that there were plans to kill him, Kinney said.
"He was there. He made some mistakes, and he is guilty ... of being an accessory to grand theft auto," Kinney said.
The jury will be given instructions from Judge Wayne Ellison today before it begins discussing whether Romero and Castro were responsible for Hunter's death.