The 15-year-old brother of a defendant on trial in the slashing deaths of three children testified yesterday that one of the two suspects may have been at home in Baltimore County about the same time police believe the crime occurred in Northwest Baltimore.
Jesus Espinoza, who testified as an alibi witness for his brother, Adan Canela, was the final person to take the stand in the five-week-long Baltimore Circuit Court trial. Defense attorneys for Canela and Policarpio Espinoza rested their cases yesterday afternoon, paving the way for jurors to hear closing arguments and begin their deliberations as early as today.
Canela, 18, and Policarpio Espinoza, 23, are charged with three counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the May 27, 2004, killings of Lucero Espinoza, 8, her brother Ricardo Espinoza, 9, and their male cousin Alexis Espejo Quezada, 10. Canela, a cousin of the children, and Policarpio Espinoza, an uncle, could face life in prison if convicted.
The prosecution case lasted 24 days and included more than 20 witnesses. Policarpio Espinoza's defense consisted of four witnesses who testified over several hours yesterday. Canela's attorneys called two people to the stand.
Giving emotional testimony about how he loves his brother and uncle and doesn't want to see them go to prison, Jesus Espinoza said he does not believe either one would have hurt the children.
"Every time I was sad, my uncle would cheer me up," Jesus Espinoza said, wiping tears from his eyes.
The teenager also said he remembered thinking that someone else was at his family's Baltimore County home when he returned from school about 3:30 p.m. the day of the killings. He said he heard a Spanish television station and Spanish pop music playing on a radio in the attic bedroom that Canela and Policarpio Espinoza shared.
Jesus Espinoza and his siblings lived there with his father, Victor Espinoza Perez, and mother, Guadalupe Juarez Hernandez. Perez is Canela's father and Policarpio Espinoza's brother.
The entire family emigrated to Baltimore illegally from a village in Veracruz, Mexico.
Jesus Espinoza said he did not go see who was home because he was not allowed into the room. Instead, he and his younger brother went to the basement. Jesus Espinoza said he heard one set of footsteps coming down the stairs to the first floor about 4:45 p.m.
