A man accused in a drug-deal shooting that left a Salpointe Catholic High School student dead never intended to pay for the drugs and was prepared to kill to get what he wanted, prosecutors argued Wednesday.
“The defendant was carrying a gun on his hip,” Deputy Pima County Attorney Faten Barakat-Nice said during opening statements in the murder trial of Keanu Deano Castaneda.
Castaneda, 21, is accused of first-degree murder, armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon in the death of 17-year-old Carlos Sandoval.
Prosecutors said Castaneda, along with Jamonte Olague, agreed to buy a pound of hydroponic marijuana from Sandoval on Dec. 31, 2011, for about $3,500. They initially agreed to meet in the parking lot of an east-side restaurant, but later the meeting point changed to a house in the Forty-Niner Country Club on the far northeast side.
People are also reading…
Also involved in the deal were Olague’s adopted brother and sister, Juliana Helene Olague and Michael Victor Olague; and their friend Frank Coronado Rios, who waited outside the house at the time of the shooting. Rios has since pleaded guilty to armed robbery and two counts of hindering prosecution. He was sentenced to four years in prison. The cases against the other defendants are pending.
Barakat-Nice said Castaneda and Jamonte Olague entered the house with Castaneda brandishing a pistol and demanded the marijuana. In a struggle, Sandoval, a Salpointe student, was shot twice and died.
The men then fled with the drugs and got into the waiting car, which Juliana Olague drove.
A neighbor who heard the shots followed the suspects in his truck in an effort to get the license plate number. The prosecutor said Castaneda fired the weapon at the pursuing neighbor multiple times.
Castaneda’s attorney, Brick Storts, said the prosecution has targeted the wrong man for the first-degree murder charge.
“That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Storts said of the state’s theory that Castaneda planned the drug rip.
Storts argued it was Jamonte Olague who planned to rob Sandoval of the drugs. He said Castaneda was recruited to go along as protection for Jamonte Olague, who feared Sandoval and his friends would take his money but not deliver the drugs.
“It wasn’t a premeditated act on his part, nor was it a set-up robbery on his part,” Storts said.
Storts said he plans to present evidence Jamonte Olague wielded the gun and shot Sandoval.
He also said it was Jamonte Olague who took the bag of marijuana from Sandoval as he lay dying on the floor and was later arrested with the drugs and the backpack they were in.
“It was the sole idea of Michael Olague and Jamonte Olague to do a drug ripoff,” Storts said.
The trial continues this week before Pima County Superior Court Judge Teresa Godoy.
