Nearly five years ago, Lorie Artery watched prosecutors present the case against the man she believes shot her 16-year-old daughter to death in her front yard in October 2000. On Tuesday, she watched again, but this time she heard a different story from the defense.
This time, Louie Machado's attorney offered up an alternate suspect in Rebecca Ramsay's death.
Assistant Pima County Public Defender Joel Feinman told jurors that Ramsay was killed by a teenage boy who was dating one of Ramsay's friends and believed Ramsay was interfering with their relationship.
It wasn't Machado who threatened to kill Ramsay three days before she died, Feinman said.
It was Jonathan Hutchens, Feinman said.
Machado, 31, was convicted of second-degree murder in Ramsay's death in 2008, but the Arizona Court of Appeals overturned the conviction, saying now-retired Judge Frank Dawley of Pima County Superior Court should not have limited evidence linking Hutchens to Ramsay's death.
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The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision last February.
Ramsay was shot and killed moments after arriving home from a church-sponsored pizza party.
Tucson police identified Machado as a suspect in 2001, but he wasn't charged until October 2006.
On Tuesday, Feinman told jurors that the only person who placed Machado at the scene that night waited seven years before coming forward. Another witness told police she saw a light-skinned man about 5 feet, 6 inches tall running from the scene. Machado is Hispanic and 5 feet, 10 inches tall.
While it's true Machado told a variety of people he was at the murder scene that night, Feinman said his words were those of a "braggart," a young man trying to impress his friends.
In at least one of the instances, Feinman said the witness had a motive to lie about a confession and later recanted.
On the other hand, three of Hutchens' alibis have proven to be false, Feinman said.
In addition, Hutchens had a reputation for violence, a habit of threatening to kill women and access to a .32-caliber gun - much like the one police suspect was used to kill Ramsay, Feinman said.
Prosecutors believe Machado anonymously called Artery two months after Ramsay died to apologize, but Ramsay's cousin, who answered the phone and once dated Machado, didn't recognize the caller's voice, Feinman said.
Deputy Pima County Attorney Casey McGinley told jurors Machado told no fewer than seven people he either killed Ramsay or he was there that night, including his girlfriend at the time and his mother.
By the end of the trial, it will become clear to them that the person who killed Ramsay is the person who confessed, not the person who has the characteristics of a killer, McGinley said.
You wouldn't want Hutchens around your house or your daughters, but "there is no evidence he was there or that he did it," McGinley said.
The trial, which is expected to take three to four weeks, is being presided over by Judge Howard Fell.
Contact reporter Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com On StarNet: Follow the news and events at Pima County's courthouses in Kim Smith's blog, At the Courthouse, at go.azstarnet.com/courthouse
