Opinion ID: 201324
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Llaurador's Murder

Text: Later that month, Llaurador told local authorities in Ponce about Caballo's murder, and provided sworn statements to the prosecutor regarding the murder on July 31 and September 13 of that year (1996). He also became a confidential informant for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on September 3, 1996. The local police arrested Genao and Valle-Lassalle for Caballo's murder based on Llaurador's statements. They issued a warrant for Peña's arrest, but he fled before they could apprehend him. The criminal complaint, which was given to both Genao and Valle-Lassalle when they were arrested, identified Llaurador as an informant. Valle-Lassalle was released on bail subsequent to his arrest. Having seen Llaurador's name on the criminal complaint, Valle-Lassalle knew that Llaurador had “snitched to the police about Caballo's murder. Telling Soto that Llaurador would likely snitch on all of them, he recruited Soto, Rodriguez, and two other members of the conspiracy to find Llaurador and murder him. The men found him on October 13, 1996 and bound him with wire. Rodriguez proceeded to behead Llaurador with a machete while he was still alive. They dismembered his body, placed the various parts in plastic garbage bags, and threw the bags over a cliff at an abandoned dump site. Valle-Lassalle watched the murder and told -10- his co-conspirators that if they told anyone about it, they would meet the same fate. He promised to repay Rodriguez for murdering Llaurador by allowing him to participate in one of the upcoming smuggling operations. D. Arrests and District Court Proceedings On December 17, 1997, the government unsealed a two count indictment against Genao, Rodriguez, Valle-Lassalle, Peña, and four others. Roldan was not charged in that initial indictment. The government obtained a twelve count second superseding indictment on July 6, 2000 against Genao, Rodriguez, Valle-Lassalle, Peña, Roldan, Pagan, and six others.2 The twelve defendants were charged with: (1) conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and multi-hundred pound quantities of marijuana; (2) conspiracy to commit firearms murder in relation to a drug trafficking offense (Caballo); (3) aiding and abetting firearms murder in relation to a drug trafficking offense (Caballo); (4) aiding and abetting the murder of a witness or informant (Llaurador); (5) aiding and abetting murder while 2 The government had previously obtained a six count first superseding indictment on July 15, 1998, charging Valle-Lassalle, Rodriguez, Peña, Genao, Pamias, Santodomingo, and four others with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and multi-hundred pound quantities of marijuana; conspiracy to commit firearms murder in relation to a drug trafficking offense (Caballo); firearms murder in relation to a drug trafficking offense (Caballo); murder of a witness or informant (Llaurador); murder while engaging in a drug trafficking offense (Llaurador); and witness tampering. -11- engaging in a drug trafficking offense (Llaurador); (6) witness tampering (Soto); (7) aiding and abetting firearms murder in relation to a drug trafficking offense (Martin); (8) aiding and abetting the murder of a witness or informant (Martin); (9) aiding and abetting murder while engaging in a drug trafficking offense (Martin); (10) aiding and abetting solicitation of a crime of violence; (11) misprision of felony; and (12) possession with intent to distribute in excess of five kilograms of cocaine. The appellants here were charged as follows: Count Summary Appellant(s) 1 The drug conspiracy Genao, Rodriguez, and Roldan 2 Conspiracy to commit firearms murder Genao in furtherance of a drug crime (Caballo) 3 Aiding and abetting firearms murder Genao in furtherance of a drug crime (Caballo) 4 Aiding and abetting murder of a Rodriguez witness (Llaurador) 5 Aiding and abetting murder in Rodriguez furtherance of a drug crime (Llaurador) 7 Aiding and abetting firearms murder Roldan in furtherance of a drug crime (Martin) 8 Aiding and abetting murder of a Roldan witness (Martin) 9 Aiding and abetting murder while Roldan engaging in a drug crime (Martin) -12- After having been arraigned on the first indictment on December 22, 1997, Rodriguez was arraigned on the second superseding indictment on July 18, 2000. Similarly, Genao was arraigned on the first superseding indictment on December 27, 1999 and the second on July 20, 2000. Roldan was only indicted once, on July 18, 2000. The government certified the defendants as being eligible for the death penalty shortly after their arraignment and maintained that position until the day before the trial was scheduled to begin. E. The Trial Of the twelve indicted defendants, only the three appellants here pled not guilty and proceeded to trial. The trial began on September 7, 2000. Roldan's and Genao's attorneys repeatedly informed the court on the first day of trial that they were unprepared to try the case, and both requested continuances. The court denied their motions. The government presented testimony from more than forty witnesses, including Commonwealth investigators, police officers, federal agents, eyewitnesses, and technical experts. The core of its case was built by two co-conspirators and cooperating witnesses, Soto and Ramos, each of whom testified for the greater part of a week. Soto began his testimony with a detailed firsthand account of Llaurador's murder, highlighting Rodriguez's participation in the killing and Valle-Lassalle's promise to reward -13- Rodriguez for his participation. Soto then recounted how he joined the conspiracy and the manner in which he met each of the coconspirators. The first time that he visited a farm owned by Valle-Lassalle, he helped to inventory six to seven thousand pounds of marijuana. He also described the planning and execution of the organization's narcotics shipments and the roles played by Genao, Rodriguez, and Roldan. He provided the details regarding a seven hundred kilogram load of cocaine that the group smuggled in May or June 1994, and discussed a trip that he took to Ayala's house in the summer of 1997 with Valle-Lassalle, Rodriguez, and Hernandez to negotiate a shipment of two thousand kilograms of cocaine. ValleLassalle negotiated with Ayala while Rodriguez and Hernandez listened to music and played pool. Ayala was arrested before that shipment could take place, but Valle-Lassalle negotiated another shipment later that summer. The second shipment was interrupted when Valle-Lassalle was arrested on Commonwealth weapons charges stemming from a shootout that he had with members of a rival drug gang. Soto also briefly recounted Valle-Lassalle's explanation of Caballo's murder. Finally, he described how he became a government informant and the terms of his plea agreement. Ramos began his testimony by providing a first-person account of Martin's murder. He then named some of the key members of the conspiracy, explained how he knew them, and described their roles in the organization. He provided details on a number of the -14- cocaine and marijuana shipments that he helped to smuggle. These included a six to seven thousand pound shipment of marijuana in the summer of 1993, which Roldan helped to inventory; six hundred kilogram shipments in late December 1993 and late December 1994, which Roldan helped to transport; a nine hundred to one thousand kilogram shipment in the fall of 1995 on behalf of Ayala, which Genao helped to transport; and a shipment of cocaine in February 1996, which Genao also helped to transport. Caballo later learned that Valle-Lassalle had stolen thirty kilograms of cocaine from this shipment. Ramos described his unsuccessful efforts to prevent Valle-Lassalle from killing Caballo to cover up that theft and essentially repeated Genao's description of Caballo's murder. He noted that after Genao was arrested for Caballo's murder, Genao wrote to him requesting a loan for bail money. Ramos forwarded that request to Valle-Lassalle who instructed Ramos to tell Genao not to worry because he would be out soon. Nine days later, Llaurador -- the chief witness against Genao in the murder case -- was killed, and Genao was released for lack of evidence. ValleLassalle told Ramos that he had taken care of the problem because the guy who was snitching had been killed. Ramos also testified about the methods of drug distribution that he employed. He managed the drug point in the Montana housing project and sold the drugs that he bought or received as payment from Valle-Lassalle. He said that he -15- frequently used Genao as a courier to pick up drugs for Ramos to sell. Finally, Ramos testified that he was arrested for attempting to introduce drugs into the country on August 24, 1998. He pled guilty and began cooperating in approximately April 1999. On October 10, 2000, the jury convicted the three defendants on all counts. On March 28, 2001, the district court sentenced Rodriguez to two life sentences for his two murder convictions, aiding and abetting murder of a witness (Llaurador) and aiding and abetting murder in furtherance of a drug crime (Llaurador). See U.S.S.G. § 2A1.1, cmt. 1 (The Commission has concluded that in the absence of capital punishment, life imprisonment is the appropriate punishment for premeditated killing.). The court applied the murder cross reference to his drug conspiracy conviction to sentence him to life in prison on that conviction as well. See U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(d)(1) (instructing courts to apply the first degree murder sentencing guideline when considering the appropriate sentencing range for a drug conviction if a victim was killed under circumstances that would constitute murder under 18 U.S.C. § 1111); see United States v. Reyes-Echevarria, 345 F.3d 1, 6 (1st Cir. 2003) (upholding the sentencing court's application of the murder cross reference to the defendant's drug conspiracy conviction after the sentencing judge concluded by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant had murdered a rival drug dealer). -16- On March 18, 2002, the court sentenced Genao to two life sentences for his two murder convictions, conspiracy to commit firearms murder in furtherance of a drug crime (Caballo) and aiding and abetting firearms murder in furtherance of a drug crime (Caballo), and applied the murder cross reference to his drug conspiracy conviction, sentencing him to a total of three life sentences. On the same day, the court sentenced Roldan to three life sentences for his three murder convictions, aiding and abetting firearms murder in furtherance of a drug crime (Martin), aiding and abetting murder of a witness (Martin), and aiding and abetting murder while engaging in a drug crime (Martin). It also applied the murder cross reference to Roldan's drug conspiracy conviction, resulting in a total of four life sentences. Genao and Roldan filed multiple motions for new trials based on newlydiscovered evidence, which the district court denied.