Juan Raul Navarro-Ramirez

Case information

• Name: Juan Raul Navarro-Ramirez
• TDCJ Number: 999490
• Date of birth: 03/11/1984
• Age: 20 (when received), 18 (at the offense)
• Education level: 12
• Race: Hispanic
• Gender: Male
• Hair color: Black
• Height: 5' 08"
• Weight: 164
• Eye color: Brown
• Native county/state: Native, Hidalgo County, Texas
• Prior occupation: Laborer (Hidalgo County)
• Prior prison record: None
• Gang membership / current characteristics (as stated): Tri-City Bombers gang member
• Current characteristics (as stated): Drugs robbery

Timeline

• 01/05/2003 — Navarro-Ramirez and 10 co-defendants entered a residence in Hidalgo County, Texas, to steal a large quantity of marijuana; during the stealing, they killed six Hispanic males.
• 01/05/2003 — An incident was described as a “drug and weapons raid” involving rival gang members.
• Jan. 7, 2003 — Juan Delgado Villa was arrested for being in the country illegally.
• Jan. 29, 2003 — Navarro-Ramirez was found and arrested at his aunts home in Hargill.
• 12/23/2004 — Navarro-Ramirez was sentenced to death.
• 12/11/2004 — A trial event was described in The Monitor Dec. 11 , 2004 regarding Juan Raul Navarro Ramirez’s trial proceedings.

The offence

On 01/05/2003 in Hidalgo County, Texas, Navarro-Ramirez and 10 co-defendants entered a residence to steal a large quantity of marijuana. During the course of stealing the marijuana, Navarro-Ramirez and his co-defendants killed six Hispanic males.

Co-defendants

The incident involved co-defendants:

• Juan Arturo Villarreal Cordova “Juanon”
• Robert Garza “Bobby”
• Jeffrey Juarez “Dragon”
• Reymundo Sauceda “Kito”
• Robert Cantu “Robbie”
• Salvador Solis “Little Sal”
• Juan Miguel Nunez “Perro”
• Juan Ramirez “Ram”
• Jorge Espinosa Martinez “Coche”
• One unknown co-defendant

Victims

Six Hispanic males were killed:

• Jimmy Edward Almendariz, 22
• Jerry Eugene Hidalgo, 24
• Ray Hidalgo, 30
• Juan Delgado Jr., 32
• Juan Delgado III, 20
• Ruben Rolando Castillo, 32

Witnesses and testimony

Witness in Edinburg massacre withholds testimony

A witness, described as “the only man to escape the 2003 massacre that left 6 others dead,” refused to testify during Navarro-Ramirez’s trial. The witness was Juan Delgado Villa, 35.

Juan Delgado Villa’s account of escape

Days after the slayings, Juan Delgado Villa, 35, told Edinburg police he dove through a window of the small house at 2515 E. Monte Cristo Road and ran, leaving behind his cousins and childhood friends as rounds of gunshots ensued.

Transfer and subpoena

Juan Delgado Villa was arrested 2 days after the murders on Jan. 7, 2003, for being in the country illegally. He was transferred from federal custody to Hidalgo County Jail under a subpoena to testify in Ramirez’s trial.

9-1-1 call

Earlier in the trial, jurors heard Rosie Gutierrez’s muffled 9-1-1 call in which she told a dispatcher that masked men had entered her home and shot her son. She told the dispatcher she did not see how many men there were or who had been killed, only that they were armed with semiautomatic rifles. Jurors also heard Gutierrez scream and cry when she untied herself and saw her sons body.

Rosie Gutierrez’s status after the shootings

In the larger home, the assailants left Rosie Gutierrez (the mother of the Hidalgo brothers) alive, tied to her bed with an extension cord near her slain son Jerry Hidalgo. Gutierrez was publicly thought to be the lone survivor until police detective testimony during Ramirez’s trial revealed Villa’s escape.

Graciela Delgado testimony

Graciela Delgado, the mother of the Delgado brothers, testified that Villa had been a good friend of her stepson Juan Delgado Jr., and that the two had not been getting along for nearly a month before he died. She told prosecutor Joseph Orendain that Juan Delgado Jr. had lived with Villa’s mother, but right before his death he had moved in with Ray Hidalgo in the home where they were both killed. She spoke in Spanish and an interpreter translated her statements to the court.

When questioned by the defense, Graciela Delgado said that she visited with Rosie Gutierrez after their sons were killed and that Gutierrez acted like “nothing had happened” and that she did not believe Rosie Gutierrez’s account of the killings.

Detective testimony

Edinburg Police Det. Daniel Ochoa testified that he had re-enacted Villa’s escape through the window to verify his story.

Arrest and investigation

Co-defendants arrested

Police found and arrested Ramirez’s co-defendants:

• Humberto “Gallo” Garza, 30
• Marcial Mata Bocanegra, 27
• Roberto “Robbie” Cantu, 25
• Reymundo “Kito” Sauceda, 29
• Jorge Norberto “Choche” Martinez, 39

Their statements led law enforcement to Navarro-Ramirez, who was found and arrested at his aunts home in Hargill on Jan. 29, 2003.

Remaining searches and other charged persons

Edinburg police were still searching for Juan Miguel “Perro” Nuez, 29. Robert “Bones” Gene Garza, 21, of Pharr was also charged in the Monte Cristo killings.

Nine others were in Hidalgo County Jail awaiting trial for the same charges.

Trial

Charges and plea

Navarro-Ramirez pleaded innocent to the charges. Hidalgo County prosecutors sought the death penalty under the law of parties, which allows for a person to face the punishment if he or she conspires with others to commit a criminal act that ends in a slaying.

Jury proceedings involving Villa’s refusal to testify

Brought into Judge Noe Gonzalez’s 370th state District Court handcuffed, shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit, Villa said he did not want to answer the prosecution’s questions.

Judge Noe Gonzalez excused the jury and appointed Edinburg attorney Roel Esquivel to advise Villa of his rights.

Judge Gonzalez told Villa:

“You do not have a right not to testify if you are subpoenaed,”

He explained that the constitutional Fifth Amendment did protect Villa from answering questions that would incriminate him in illegal activity. He also told Villa not to tell the jury his reasons for not answering the questions.

Esquivel said Villa felt he had nothing to offer the case, and did not want to testify out of concern for his health and his family. Villa told the court:

“My life is in danger every day,”
“I dont want any publicity. I dont want to be in front of a jury. “If I have to do more time, Ive already done enough.”

In front of the jury, prosecutor Cregg Thompson asked Villa if he had been present in the home when the shooting occurred and if he heard gunshots when Ruben Castillo was shot outside. Thompson asked:

“You ran when you heard someone tell (Castillo) to get on the ground. You never saw them push in the door? You didnt see him get shot in the back, butt and legs as he knelt in front of the couch you were sleeping on?”

To each question Villa responded, “I dont want to answer.”

Villa also would not respond to defense attorney Alma Garza.

Defense allegations about Villa

Alma Garza alleged that Villa had asked a friend for a bulletproof vest the morning of Jan. 4 and that he had purchased two other bulletproof vests months earlier.

Garza also alleged that before the murders, Villa took the girlfriend of one of the alleged assailants to the house where the men were killed and showed her marijuana. Garza also said Villa had spent time with the woman afterward.

Garza asked:

“You told (the woman) that you were afraid they were going to pin everything on you, didnt you?”

Villa would also not respond when asked if he told a friend that he had had a gun and fired back at the shooters.

Contempt request

For refusing to cooperate with the attorneys, prosecutors asked Gonzalez to hold Villa in contempt, which could carry additional jail time, though Gonzalez did not rule on the matter Friday.

Sentencing

Navarro-Ramirez was sentenced to death on December 23, 2004.

Other details

• Two houses were on the property. Police found five of the bodies in or around the smaller of 2 houses on the property, where Villa had also been present.
• In the larger home, Rosie Gutierrez was left alive tied to her bed with an extension cord near slain son Jerry Hidalgo.
• The property address included 2515 E. Monte Cristo Road (in connection with Villa’s escape through the window).
• Robert “Bones” Gene Garza, 21, of Pharr was previously found guilty in connection with a shooting death of 4 Donna women in 2002.
• That prior crime was linked to several alleged members of the Tri-City Bombers gang.
• Navarro-Ramirez was described as the youngest defendant charged with the murders of rival gang members during a “drug and weapons raid,” and the first to stand trial for those murders.
• Navarro-Ramirez had not been identified as a shooter, and prosecutors sought death under the law of parties.