Guilty
After about 12 hours of deliberating, jurors found Joseph Moncada and Billy Joe Aguero guilty of all charges against them. Check www.gfherald.com for more.
Posted by: Archie Ingersoll on 6/25/2009 at 3:59 PM | Permalink
Judge: Jury may have verdicts
A few minutes ago, Judge Lawrnece Jahnke told me a bailiff told him the jury in the Aguero-Moncada case could be 30 to 45 minutes away from delivering a verdict. Check www.gfherald.com for the very first word on it.
Posted by: Archie Ingersoll on 6/25/2009 at 2:12 PM | Permalink
Can't stop, won't stop: Deliberations pass 9-hour mark
As the jurors in the Aguero-Moncada case deliberate for a second day (They started at 3 p.m. Wednesday), this reporter/blogger remains camped out in the Grand Forks County courthouse. I've set up shop on a wooden bench on the second-floor near an electrical outlet so I can charge my laptop. Waiting out verdicts here ensures that I won't miss the news when it comes. And until it does, my existence will have shades of this guy's experience living at the Paris airport for years.
Midmorning, I overheard a bailiff say the jury is "working hard." A while later, I saw a couple go for a smoke break. Now the word is that the jurors will be ordering lunch. Aside from that not much news has come out of the jury room. So far, the jurors haven't had any questions for the judge (Those have to be asked in court).
Some tidbits:
--The clerk of court's office said Judge Lawrence Jahnke has not yet decided whether to release the names of the jurors. During the jury selection process, the jurors were identified by assigned numbers.
-- The judge wouldn't release the genders of the two alternate jurors who were excused before deliberations began, the clerk's office said. A jury panel of five men and nine women heard the case, but just 12 of them are deliberating.
--My headline is a phrase from the hip hop world. It's also the title of a book on the hip hop generation and a blog. A guy named Jeff Chang is responsible for both.
Posted by: Archie Ingersoll on 6/25/2009 at 12:14 PM | Permalink
Jury deliberation continues
After deliberating for six hours Wednesday without a verdict being announced, jurors in the trial of Billy Joe Aguero and Joseph Moncada are back in the courthouse this morning.
The wait begins again.
Posted by: Archie Ingersoll on 6/25/2009 at 9:08 AM | Permalink
Jury out in Aguero-Moncada trial
Jurors in the Aguero-Moncada trial just retired to the jury room to deliberate.
The defendants are each charged with two counts of murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of Robert and Damien Belgarde, a Grand Forks father and son. If my math is right, the jury will return eight separate verdicts. Judge Jahnke cautioned jurors that they cannot find a defendant guilty by association.
The wait begins.
Posted by: Archie Ingersoll on 6/24/2009 at 3:02 PM | Permalink
Defense makes closing arguments
Moncada’s attorney, Robert Martin, is now addressing jurors. He emphasized that the state has the burden to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt and has moved on to discussing evidence. The jury, as it has been throughout the trial, has been attentively listening and studiously taking notes (No sleeping jurors here). The 14-person panel consists of nine women and five men. Two alternates will be excused before deliberation begins.
With more than 30 people in the gallery today -- including prosecutors, investigators and supporters of the victims and the defendants -- its biggest turnout this trial has seen.
Another thing: An earlier story in the Herald touched on the issue of the defendants wearing leg shackles during the trial. Defense attorneys asked the judge that their clients, who are in the custody of the Grand Forks County jail, not have to wear them, so not to prejudice the jury. Judge Lawrence Jahnke, however, did not grant the request. Consequently, inventive defense attorneys set up file-box barricades around the defense table to block the lines of sight to Aguero’s and Moncada’s feet. The barricades have been in place throughout the trial.
Posted by: Archie Ingersoll on 6/24/2009 at 11:28 AM | Permalink
Parting shots in Aguero-Moncada case
Closing arguments have begun in the trial of Billy Joe Aguero and Joseph Moncada.
Prosecutor Jason McCarthy is givng jurors a recap of his case. Not surprisingly, he says the "physical, scientific and testimonial evidence” point to the two defendants charged in shootings of Robert and Damien Belgarde. Defense attorneys Robert Martin and David Dusek -- representing Moncada and Aguero, respectively -- are up next.
The prosecution and defense rested their cases Tuesday. Read about that day’s testimony here.
Posted by: Archie Ingersoll on 6/24/2009 at 10:26 AM | Permalink
State rests, defense calls witneses in Aguero-Moncada trial
Prosecutors have rested their case in the double murder trial of Billy Joe Aguero and Joseph Moncada. The men are charged in the shooting deaths of Robert and Damien Belgarde, a Grand Forks father and son.
In a fifth day of prosecution testimony, jurors heard from an FBI DNA expert, a forensic examiner who did the autopsies of the victims, and an investigator with the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The defense said at a pretrial conference that it planned to rely solely on the cross-examination of prosecution witnesses. But this afternoon Moncada's attorney has called one witness -- a man who spoke with Shannon Clauthier, the boyfriend of Moncada's sister, about the murders -- and appears to have plans to call at least two more.
Read about Friday's testimony here and Monday's testimony here.
Posted by: Archie Ingersoll on 6/23/2009 at 2:15 AM | Permalink
Defendants' pal implicates them
We're into the third day of testimony in the trial of Billy Joe Aguero and Joseph Moncada. They’re accused of killing Robert and Damien Belgarde -- a Grand Forks father and son.
Anthony Herrera Jr., a friend of the defendants back in 2001, testified today that he was drinking beer with friends at the Plainsmen Motel, 2201 Gateway Drive in Grand Forks, on the night of Sept. 7, 2001 -- the same night the Belgardes were found dead between 11:30-11:45 p.m. on a remote road southwest of town.
Herrera told jurors Aguero and Moncada stopped by his room around 9 or 10 p.m. Herrera said he talked with Aguero. “He said some fools owed some money, and they were going to get dealt with,” Herrera said, adding that Moncada told him essentially the same thing.
Herrera testified the two men left the motel together in a Chevy Cavalier. No one else was in the vehicle, he said.
Herrera said he spoke with Aguero the next day at the Plainsmen. He said a scared-looking Aguero told him "that he had shot somebody.” Herrera said Aguero told him he was with only Moncada at the time.
The defense jumped on the inconsistencies in the three statements Herrera gave law enforcement. Moncada's attorney, Robert Martin, pointed out that Herrera, in his first statement to investigators on Sept. 21, 2001, did not tell them that Moncada was there or that he spoke with him.
The trial is on a 15-minute recess right now, but when it resumes, investigator Dan Hillebrand, with the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Office, will be back on the stand.
Hillebrand, though not an expert in the field, has already told the jury that tire tracks at the scene matched the tires on the Chevy Cavalier the prosecution says the defendants were driving that night.
Read story about the first day of testimony here and the second day here.
Posted by: Archie Ingersoll on 6/19/2009 at 3:02 PM | Permalink
Officer who found Belgardes' bodies testifies
The first day of argument and testimony is underway in the double murder trial of Joseph Moncada and Billy Joe Aguero.
Those who have testified so far include two young people who discovered the bodies of Robert and Damien Belgarde, Sgt. Bob Thompson of the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Office who was the first to respond to the crime scene, and Patty Belgarde -- the mother of Damien and the ex-wife of Robert.
Thompson said that, when he got to the scene the night of Sept. 7, 2001, he checked the bodies for vital signs and found none. He said he didn't disturb the bodies and retraced his steps as he walked away from them.
Thompson said he discovered Robert on his back in the road with blood pooling underneath him. Damien lay on his side in a ditch near a fence, he said.
Posted by: Archie Ingersoll on 6/17/2009 at 2:15 PM | Permalink
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