{"id":107307,"date":"2016-01-07T00:43:39","date_gmt":"2016-01-07T07:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-man-convicted-in-friday-the-13th-knife-fight\/"},"modified":"2016-01-07T00:43:39","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T07:43:39","slug":"cortez-man-convicted-in-friday-the-13th-knife-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-man-convicted-in-friday-the-13th-knife-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez man convicted in Friday the 13th knife fight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Espinoza\"
Espinoza<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A 45-year-old Cortez man glanced at his attorney then shook his head after he was found guilty of first-degree assault late Wednesday.<\/p>\n

A jury of eight men and four women deliberated for about 90 minutes before reaching the verdict on Wednesday, Jan. 6. The defendant, Robert Espinoza, will be sentenced on Feb. 25.<\/p>\n

Immediately after Chief District Court Judge Doug Walker read the verdict, public defender Katie Whitney patted her client on the back and whispered in his ear. After talking briefly with Espinoza\u2019s family members, Whitney declined to comment when exiting the courtroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long week,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Assistant District Attorney Sean Murray also declined to comment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Espinoza was arrested and charged with first-degree assault in connection to a knife fight that occurred at a camper trailer on the 100 block of South Washington Street just before midnight on Friday, March 13. The alleged victim suffered both a 6-inch laceration on his face and neck and two puncture wounds on his side and back, which resulted in a collapsed lung.<\/p>\n

In a subsequent statement emailed to The Journal, Murray explained that since Espinoza was convicted of assault with a heat-of-the-moment stipulation, the initial maximum 32-year prison sentence would be reduced to a maximum of six years.<\/p>\n

Closing statements<\/p>\n

With the aid of a PowerPoint presentation, Murray didn\u2019t hesitate on the guilt of the defendant in his closing remarks to jurors.<\/p>\n

\u201cRobert Espinoza is guilty of assault in the first degree beyond a reasonable doubt,\u201d Murray said.<\/p>\n

Adding that Espinoza\u2019s accounts to police on the night in question were inconsistent, Murray asked the jurors to consider how the defendant could throw the victim to the ground after being stabbed if he also told authorities that he was unaware that he had been stabbed until after leaving the scene.<\/p>\n

Murray also addressed the defendant\u2019s claims of self-defense, telling jurors that an individual in fear of his life wouldn\u2019t ask his supposed attacker if he wanted to die, and that it was also unreasonable for someone that claimed self-defense to stab the supposed attacker in both the neck and back when lying on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not self-defense,\u201d Murray said of the defendant\u2019s actions. \u201cHe wanted to have a knife fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitney was also quick to summarize in her closing statements to jurors that her client was indeed innocent of assault.<\/p>\n

\u201cRobert Espinoza was attacked,\u201d Whitney said. \u201cHe reacted responsibly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claiming that her client was rattled after being attacked, she argued that it was completely reasonable for the defendant to be unaware that he was stabbed during the heat of a knife fight. She also posed to jurors, asking why the victim, who testified that he loved knives, would subsequently drop his knife when physically confronted by a supposed knife-wielding attacker?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make any sense,\u201d Whitney told jurors.<\/p>\n

Whitney also asked jurors to consider the alleged victim\u2019s hesitation to testify against his alleged attacker, stating he only took the witness stand due to court order.<\/p>\n

\u201cRobert Espinoza is not guilty,\u201d Whitney reiterated in her closing remarks to jurors.<\/p>\n

Victim testimony<\/p>\n

On the witness stand for nearly two-and-a-half hours on Tuesday, the 31-year-old victim was called as the prosecution\u2019s first witness.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you stab Robert Espinoza?\u201d Murray asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

The victim continued, telling jurors that Espinoza was looking for drugs on the night in question when he verbally provoked the defendant into a physical confrontation.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Espinoza) was coming at me like a monkey,\u201d the victim said. \u201cHe punched me in the head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claiming that he was unarmed, the victim added that he never had a chance to defend himself, stating an eyewitness had to pull the defendant off of him after he fell to the ground. With blood squirting from his face, the victim feared death, he testified.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just trying to breath,\u201d the victim told jurors, raising his shirt to reveal stab wounds to his right side and back.<\/p>\n

The victim said he was subsequently hospitalized for three days after his lung collapsed.<\/p>\n

On cross-examination, the victim admitted that he had an extensive criminal history, including theft of his mother\u2019s credit card and providing a false name to police. The victim also acknowledged that a pending case involving the assault of a police officer could result in a 16-year prison term if convicted.<\/p>\n

At one point, the victim\u2019s public defender, sitting at the prosecution\u2019s table, attempted to object to the line of questioning regarding the pending criminal matters, but Walker informed her that she had \u201cno standing\u201d to participate in the trial proceedings.<\/p>\n

During cross-examination, the victim also stated that Whitney was trying to confuse him on the witness stand, but he remained adamant that he didn\u2019t possess or use a knife during the physical confrontation. He also repeated on several occasions that he didn\u2019t remember what he told police in a subsequent voluntary interview 11 days after the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to put this out of my life,\u201d the victim said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to remember being stabbed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immunity granted<\/p>\n

On Monday, public defender Sarah Hildebrand, representing the victim, informed the court that she had advised her client to plead the Fifth Amendment if questioned about pending criminal charges filed against him while on the witness stand.<\/p>\n

To alleviate the potential conflict, Murray granted the prosecution\u2019s key witness full immunity on any charges related to the self-defense case as well as pending matters in unrelated cases.<\/p>\n

Whitney argued that she should be able to cross-examine the victim on why he was granted immunity, asserting his testimony would reveal that he had a history of providing false information to police.<\/p>\n

The court sided with the defense, clarifying that the victim\u2019s testimony could only be used against him if he committed perjury, for example.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will have to answer all questions,\u201d Walker said of the victim.<\/p>\n

Detective testimony<\/p>\n

In plain clothes, Cortez Det. Buck Woodman testified on Tuesday that he collected two Smith & Wesson knives from the scene, one from the yard and the other from just inside the doorway of a camper trailer where the alleged attack occurred. Blood was found only on the knife found inside the camper.<\/p>\n

Asked about any statements made by the defendant, Woodman recalled that Espinoza reported asking the alleged victim, \u201cDo you want to die (expletive)?\u201d<\/p>\n

On cross-examination, Woodman confirmed that Espinoza was also injured in the attack, suffering a stab wound to his upper arm. Woodman also admitted that he failed to ask the alleged victim in an interview 11 days after the attack how the defendant sustained his injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not take note of it,\u201d said Woodman shaking his head in regard to his March 30 report.<\/p>\n

Forensics evidence<\/p>\n

Two forensic biologists with the Colorado Bureau of Investigators provided evidence confirming that only one knife collected at the scene contained any DNA evidence, which was a positive match to the alleged victim. No DNA evidence linked to the defendant was found on blood samples collected at the scene, according to CBI agents.<\/p>\n

Charles Manson<\/p>\n

Prior to opening statements on Monday afternoon, Whitney raised an objection to prosecutors using a photo of Charles Manson in a PowerPoint presentation. The court granted the defense request.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are certainly going to take out the picture of Charles Manson,\u201d Walker told Murray.<\/p>\n

It was unclear why the district attorney\u2019s office had considered using a photo of the infamous cult leader \u2013 whose followers were responsible for several notorious murders in the late 1960s \u2013 when making opening statements to the jury.<\/p>\n

Witnesses fail to appear<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, prosecutors informed the court that two of its witnesses were unavailable to testify. Murray explained the defendant\u2019s girlfriend and another eyewitness both had warrants for their arrest.<\/p>\n

Police video<\/p>\n

Evidence or truth of the matter asserted?<\/p>\n

The head-scratching legal argument preceded a courtroom broadcast on Wednesday of an 18-minute police video captured when officers transported the defendant to the emergency room on the night in question.<\/p>\n

At issue was whether jurors should be instructed to consider the video as \u201cevidence\u201d or \u201ctruth of the matter asserted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want the jury to decide what law students discuss in an entire semester?\u201d Walker asked prosecutors.<\/p>\n

The court ultimately simplified the language, instructing the jury to only consider statements the defendant made to police. The jury then viewed the video, which opened with Espinoza laughing with officers before he was placed in a patrol car.<\/p>\n

While en route to the emergency room and without any questioning, Espinoza immediately and voluntarily told officers that he went to the scene on the night in question looking for the owner of the camper, where the defendant and his girlfriend both resided. When he attempted to leave the scene, Espinoza told police that the alleged victim claimed he had a knife before \u201cflying out\u201d toward him.<\/p>\n

At the emergency room, Espinoza removed his jacket and shirt moments before a police detective entered. Without reading a Miranda warning, the detective proceeded, informing Espinoza to reveal his side of the story.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stabbed me and we started wrestling,\u201d Espinoza said, claiming he never saw the defendant with a knife because it was dark.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really know that he stabbed me until after I left,\u201d Espinoza continued.<\/p>\n

Acquittal requested<\/p>\n

After the prosecution rested Wednesday morning, Whitney requested an acquittal, claiming Murray had failed to meet his burden of proof that Espinoza didn\u2019t act in self-defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of inconsistencies in the testimony,\u201d Whitney argued.<\/p>\n

Murray countered, claiming no evidence had been presented to contest the first-degree assault charge. He also reminded the court that the defendant asked the victim if he wanted to die during the attack.<\/p>\n

The defense request for acquittal was ultimately denied.<\/p>\n

Espinoza opted not to testify at trial, and Whitney didn\u2019t call any witnesses to testify on her client\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n

tbaker@the-journal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

convicted in Friday the 13th knife fight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[585,21,13,525],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-107307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-assault-general","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-trials"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107307"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=107307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}