Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CNJ staff photo: Tony BullocksLouis Guerra, left, is led away after his court appearance Wednesday in front of Judge Donna Mowrer while his attorney, James Klipstine, of Hobbs watches. Guerra was denied a change of venue and continuance for his murder trial, which is scheduled to start next week.
Not front page coverage of a jail fight. Not a star witness possibly changing his testimony. Not even the question of evidence from the victim's pocket will stop Louis Guerra's murder trial from taking place next week in Clovis.
CNJ staff photo: Tony Bullocks
Louis Guerra, left, is led away after his court appearance Wednesday in front of Judge Donna Mowrer while his attorney, James Klipstine, of Hobbs watches. Guerra was denied a change of venue and continuance for his murder trial, which is scheduled to start next week.
District Judge Donna Mowrer denied requests by Guerra's attorney Wednesday to postpone the trial and move it to another jurisdiction.
The decision means Guerra's trial for the April 2011 killing of Daniel Perez will begin as scheduled at 8:30 a.m. Monday in Mowrer's courtroom.
Guerra, 31, is accused of shooting Daniel Perez in what police say was a gang-related showdown last year in Clovis.
Guerra's attorney, James Klipstine of Hobbs, argued for a change of venue, saying a much-publicized fight at Curry County jail between his client and the victim's brother, Jaime Perez, made it impossible to select an impartial jury.
Klipstine cited the fight in asking for a trial delay. He also alleged the state's star witness, Jaime Perez, had changed his story.
And Klipstine said he needed to find out if the toxicologist tested a substance found in the victim's pocket and the results could turn out to be new evidence.
District Attorney Matt Chandler disputed all of Klipstine's allegations during an hour of arguments in front of Mowrer and a half-dozen members of the Perez family, attending their second court hearing of the day.
Earlier Wednesday, many of the same Perez family members were present for the arraignment of former fugitive 33-year-old Noe Torres, who is charged with the murder of 10-year-old Carlos Perez in 2005.
Chandler said even if the substance found in the victim's pocket turned out to be drugs, he would file a motion asking to keep it from the jury just as Klipstine has successfully argued to keep the jury from hearing police found drugs in Guerra's home when they arrested him.
Klipstine claimed that over the past few months Jaime Perez changed his story from not knowing anything about the shooting of his brother, to being present and firing back at a car of a different color and make than one described by all other eyewitnesses.
Chandler said it just wasn't true. He said Jaime has maintained that he fired back at the car several times after dropping to one knee in a defensive position, according to Chandler.
Chandler also pointed out it wasn't unusual in months-long cases for witnesses to change some elements of testimony. That happens over time but is not grounds for a continuance, Chandler said, noting the county had two pools of jury candidates awaiting selection for the trial.
Klipstine argued that no less than four front-page articles in the CNJ about the jail fight between Guerra and Jaime increased the "likelihood we will not be able to find a fair and impartial jury."
Chandler argued that Klipstine offered no proof of the number of people who may have read the stories either in print or online. He also argued that additional continuances of the trial placed additional burdens of the family as well as the district attorney's office.
"This case," Chandler said, "it's time to be tried."
