A Tucson man is facing a potential life sentence after being convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder in a fatal January 2006 home invasion.
Julian Wyatt, 20, will be sentenced June 9 by Pima County Superior Court Judge Howard Hantman.
Rafael Cuen-Molina, 34, was shot to death on Jan. 3, 2006, after going outside to investigate some noises at his home near West Valencia Road and South Camino de Oeste.
Jacob Valenzuela, then 17, was arrested the following day and Wyatt turned himself in about nine months later.
Valenzuela pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case last month and testified against Wyatt in exchange for a prison sentence of somewhere between three and 12 years in prison.
Valenzuela told jurors last Friday that on the evening of Jan. 2, 2006, his brother Adrian came up with the idea that Wyatt and Jacob should rob a house, using Adrian's newly acquired assault rifle.
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It was Wyatt who told him where to drive and pointed out the house they were going to rob, Valenzuela told Deputy Pima County Attorney Lewis Brandes.
Once they got to the Southwest Side home, Valenzuela said he knocked over a chain-link fence and jumped out of the truck wearing a Grim Reaper mask and a ski mask. Wyatt was also wearing a ski mask, he said.
When Wyatt couldn't crash through a trailer door with his shoulder, Valenzuela said Wyatt shot the door, turned around and jumped back into the truck.
Wyatt continued to fire at the trailer as they fled, Valenzuela said.
Valenzuela said he agreed to rob the house because he wanted to impress his brother, who is a member of a gang.
"I wanted to show him I wasn't scared," Valenzuela said. "I kinda looked up to him."
Brandes also put Wyatt's sister, Roberta Wyatt, 29, and Wyatt's former girlfriend, Rochelle Barron, 21, on the stand during the trial.
Both women told police that in January 2006, Wyatt made incriminating statements to them, but on the stand they claimed not to remember anything they said to police because they were using drugs at the time.
Defense attorney Bobbi Berry tried to convince jurors that Adrian Valenzuela committed the armed robbery with his brother, not Wyatt.
Jurors didn't know it, but Adrian Valenzuela, 21, is awaiting trial in an unrelated fatal home invasion.
According to prosecutors, Thomas Michael Hernandez, Andy Gonzales and Adrian Valenzuela took part in five home invasions within three hours on June 26, 2006.
Hernandez was convicted in a trial, and Gonzales has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
