Espinoza

Jockey Victor Espinoza had heard the talk. He'd heard people questioning the ability of War Emblem, the horse he rode to victory at the Kentucky Derby. He heard the discussions about what they were going to do to beat him in the Preakness. And for two weeks, he hadn't slept well, excited and nervous all at the same time. But when Espinoza walked War Emblem into the starting gate at Pimlico Race Course yesterday for the 127th running of the second leg of the Triple Crown, he was suddenly at ease.

A Baltimore judge sentenced Policarpio Espinoza Perez to life in prison Monday for conspiring to murder his brother's two children and their young cousin nearly a decade ago in a killing described as the "most horrific" to ever come before the court. The parents of Ricardo and Lucero Espinoza, 8 and 9 years old, came home to their Fallstaff apartment in May 2004 to find the boys and their 10-year-old cousin, Alexis Espejo Quezada, beaten and mutilated, their throats cut and bleeding.

NEW KENT, Va. - Five weeks ago in the Belmont, aboard a 70-1 unknown named Sarava, Edgar Prado dashed California jockey Victor Espinoza's hopes of winning the Triple Crown with War Emblem. Yesterday, Prado bested Espinoza again, this time in the $500,000 Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs. Riding the Bill Mott-trained Orchard Park, Prado crossed the wire 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Espinoza and his mount, the Neil Drysdale-trained Flying Dash. Espinoza's horse in both races was the favorite.

A Baltimore jury found Policarpio Espinoza Perez guilty of murder conspiracy charges Tuesday in the grisly deaths of three young relatives in 2004, a conviction that could put him in prison for the rest of his life. While jurors found that he played a role in the killings, they acquitted him of murder charges in two of them and could not decide in the third. With the panel deadlocked, a circuit judge declared a mistrial on a charge that Espinoza Perez, 31, slashed the throat of his 8-year-old niece.

Moves Baseball ROYALS: Purchased contract of C Dusty Wathan from Triple-A Omaha. Horse racing NEW YORK RACING ASSOCIATION: Suspended jockey Jose Espinoza 10 days for careless riding during first race at Belmont Park on Saturday. Espinoza has appealed the suspension, and a stay has been granted.

Two more relatives of the Mexican immigrants on trial in the brutal killings of three children took the witness stand yesterday and gave testimony that raised more questions about the behavior of family members the day of the killings. The sister-in-law of Policarpio Espinoza, the elder defendant, exchanged numerous telephone calls with him all day May 27, 2004, the day the children were killed in their Fallstaff apartment. Espinoza, 23, and his nephew, Adan Canela, 18, are on trial in Baltimore Circuit Court on three counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy charges in the deaths of 8-year-old Lucero Espinoza, her 9-year-old bother, Ricardo, and their 10-year-old male cousin, Alexis Espejo Quezada.

There were subtle differences - in style, not substance - yesterday as the retrial began in the case of Policarpio Espinoza and Adan Canela, two Mexican immigrants accused of slashing the throats of their three young relatives. Jurors in the trial last summer could not reach a verdict, an outcome that some of them attributed to confusion about the evidence and the lack of a clear motive in such a brutal crime. Lucero Espinoza, 8, her brother, Ricardo Espinoza, 9, and their male cousin, Alexis Espejo Quezada, 10, were killed May 27, 2004, in their bedrooms in the family's Northwest Baltimore apartment.

A DNA expert took the stand yesterday in the Baltimore trial of two men accused of killing three young relatives and gave jurors a science lesson as prosecutors prepared to introduce evidence that they say ties the defendants to the killings. Lynnett Redhead, a criminalist with the city Police Department, extracted and analyzed DNA from blood stains and skin cells in the case. Using slides and a pointer, she stood before the jury box and defined some of the terminology, such as alleles and double-helix strands, that jurors are likely to hear over several days of her testimony.

Ignoring the cries of innocence from one of the two relatives convicted of slashing and strangling three children, a Baltimore judge sentenced the men yesterday to two consecutive life sentences without parole and an additional 30 years in prison for crimes that he said stunned the city. Policarpio Espinoza, 24, and Adan Canela, 19, were found guilty by a jury last month of attacking Lucero Espinoza, 8; her brother, Ricardo Espinoza, 9; and their male cousin Alexis Espejo Quezada, 10, though no clear motive was presented at trial.

Policarpio Espinoza baby-sat and nurtured the children he and his nephew are accused of decapitating, defense attorneys said yesterday as they began to challenge some evidence gathered by police. Baltimore District Judge Nancy B. Shuger ordered yesterday that Espinoza, 22, and Adan E. Canela, 17, continue to be held without bail at the city's Central Booking and Intake Center. They were charged last week in the deaths of three of their relatives -- ages 9 and 10 -- as the children arrived home from elementary school on Thursday.

A turbulent spring among a family of immigrants nine years ago led to a plot to slash the throats of three young children, prosecutors said Thursday in closing arguments in the murder trial of Policarpio Espinoza Perez. "There was something terribly wrong in that family dynamic," Assistant State's Attorney Nicole Lomartire said. Prosecutors told a story about the days and hours before the killings, pointing to romantic tensions among members of the large Espinoza Perez family of illegal immigrants from Mexico, but stopped short of spelling out a conclusive motive for the May 2004 killings.

For the first time in three trials in the 2004 slashing deaths of three children in Northwest Baltimore, jurors on Monday heard a nine-year-old statement by one of the suspects describing his nephew emerging shirtless from a rear window of the apartment in which the victims were killed. The tape-recorded statement by Policarpio Espinoza Perez, charged in the killings with his nephew, Adan Espinoza Canela, was played in Baltimore Circuit Court for the first time since the May 2004 killings of three young relatives because he is now being tried separately.

A panel of jurors took their seats Monday in the trial of a man accused of nearly beheading three children nine years ago. Prosecutors say Policarpio Espinoza Perez, a 31-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, slashed the throats of three children ages 8, 9 and 10 in 2004 in a Baltimore apartment in the 7000 block of Park Heights Ave. Perez has been on trial for the murders twice before, both times with Adan Canela, 26, who is also accused of...

Teen doesn't take plea in deaths of his family The deadline for filing a motion that a Cockeysville teenager accused of killing his parents and younger brothers is not criminally responsible for the deaths came and went yesterday without any paperwork being filed by lawyers representing Nicholas W. Browning. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Bollinger set yesterday as the deadline for defense attorneys to file a motion of their intent to argue that the 16-year-old is not criminally responsible - Maryland's equivalent of an insanity plea - in the fatal shootings of his family.

It seemed impossible that the circumstances in the killing of high school football player Jamiel Shaw Jr. could get any sadder - but they did. Accused in the shooting death of Shaw is 19-year-old Pedro Espinoza. Espinoza had been out of jail barely 24 hours when he allegedly killed Shaw, apparently in the mistaken belief that Shaw belonged to a rival gang. A second person is being sought.

Ignoring the cries of innocence from one of the two relatives convicted of slashing and strangling three children, a Baltimore judge sentenced the men yesterday to two consecutive life sentences without parole and an additional 30 years in prison for crimes that he said stunned the city. Policarpio Espinoza, 24, and Adan Canela, 19, were found guilty by a jury last month of attacking Lucero Espinoza, 8; her brother, Ricardo Espinoza, 9; and their male cousin Alexis Espejo Quezada, 10, though no clear motive was presented at trial.

Two Mexican immigrants were indicted yesterday by a Baltimore grand jury in the slashing deaths of three young relatives, one of whom was beheaded and the others partially beheaded. Adan Espinoza Canela, 17, and his uncle, Policarpio Espinoza, 22, who were arrested May 28, were each charged with three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of conspiracy to commit murder and three counts of using a deadly weapon. Espinoza was the children's uncle, and Canela was their cousin. The victims, Ricardo Solis Quezada Jr. and his sister, Lucero Solis Quezada, both 9, and their 10-year-old male cousin, Alexis Espejo Quezada, were killed in their Northwest Baltimore apartment May 27. Police say they have not established a motive for the killings.

The city police detective who interrogated two men accused of slashing the throats of three children last May said yesterday that the younger suspect was "the coldest person" he had ever interviewed. Sgt. Darryl Massey's testimony came during the second day of pretrial motions for Adan Canela, 18, and Policarpio Espinoza, 23. Both are charged with first-degree murder in the killings of Canela's young cousins, two 9-year-olds and a 10-year-old. Espinoza is an uncle of Canela and the dead children.

As he stood on the courthouse steps watching city prosecutors proudly announce the guilty verdicts they had won against two Mexican immigrants accused of killing their young relatives, Baltimore police Sgt. Darryl Massey had a different take. "For us, it's not over," he said at the time. "Others played a role in these deaths. There are others to still be considered and looked at." A week after a Baltimore jury convicted Policarpio Espinoza and Adan Canela of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, the lead detective on the case echoed Massey's reaction -- saying that police work remains to be done.

Two trials. One hung jury. Two guilty verdicts. Three dead children. And still no motive. I was tempted to write "still no rational motive" in the 2004 murders of 8-year-old Lucero Espinoza, 9-year-old Ricardo Espinoza and 10-year-old Alexis Espejo Quezada. But we don't have a motive of any kind, rational or otherwise. The three children were nearly decapitated in their Northwest Baltimore apartment two years ago. Policarpio Espinoza, the uncle of the slain children, and Adan Canela, their cousin, were charged with the killings.