N.M. Mother`s Pleas with Emergency Responders Play at Child Killer`s Trial

March 11--The first day of testimony in accused child killer Noe Torres' murder trial included a mother's gut-wrenching pleas for help saving her mortally wounded son and two eyewitnesses who put Torres at the scene of the killing.

Jurors heard a hysterical Lupe Perez pleading with emergency responders to hurry as her 10-year-old son Carlos lay bloody and dying in his bed from a gunshot wound to the head.

Carlos' sister Araceli wept on the witness stand while the horrific recording of her mother's 911 call echoed through the courtroom, her mother heard wailing, "Carlos. Wake up," then, "Someone please help me. Please. Oh God."

Araceli said she was a 14-year-old ninth-grader in September 2005, the night the crack of gunshots forced her to sit straight up in bed. She said she looked out her window to see someone running toward the alley behind the Perez family's apartment near Dennis Chavez Park in Clovis.

Later in the day, jurors heard another witness say Demetrio Salas -- one of three others accused -- told her "We just shot nine rounds into that sewer rat's home."

The target of the gang shooting was Carlos' older brother, Ruben Perez, according to prosecutors. Earlier in the day, Salas' brother, Orlando Salas, had pulled a knife on Ruben Perez at Clovis High School and challenged him to a fight later at Greene Acres Park, Deputy District Attorney Matt Andrasko told jurors in opening arguments.

Ruben Perez went to the park but Orlando Salas was a no-show, according to Andrasko. Later in the early hours of Sept. 15, 2005, prosecutors contend Torres and three others pumped nine rounds from a .22 caliber revolver into the bedroom window at Gatewood Apartments where Carlos and Ruben lay sleeping next to each other. Carlos was the only one hit and died later at a Lubbock hospital.

Torres' attorney Stacey Ward told jurors Carlos Perez wasn't the only one to suffer a nighmare that night. Torres, she said, endured a nightmare for the next decade.

"Imagine ... you are accused of a crime you didn't commit," Ward said.

Ward acknowledged Torres' seven years as a fugitive, finally captured almost three years ago in Mexico. Torres fled Clovis soon after the killing because, Ward told jurors, "He was scared to death he could not get a fair shake in this jurisdiction."

Ward said evidence will show that cold-blooded killers, "the kinds of people who don't really care about killing innocent children," also don't really care about taking an innocent person like Torres with them.

The three others accused in the case, Edward Salas, Demetrio Salas and David Griego, have been convicted of murder and are serving time in state prison.

Witness: 'I don't want to be part of this'

Melissa Sanchez, 25, was the witness who testified that Demetrio Salas and Griego were pounding at her door early in the morning, minutes after the shooting about a block away from her home. She said Demetrio was holding a gun, had a bandana wrapped around his face and was in "an adrenaline rush ... very excited."

After saying they had shot up the Perez apartment, Sanchez said the two started searching the house for pickle juice, believing they could use it to cleanse themselves and the gun of any gunpowder residue.

Sanchez, 16 at the time, said she was testifying as part of a plea deal for a two-year sentence served at a state girls home. Sanchez said knew Ruben Perez and she was the person who showed Salas and Griego the Perez apartment, pointing out Ruben's bedroom window. Sanchez said she had no idea of their plans.

When the two showed up at her door after the shooting, they flipped on a police scanner and Sanchez said she heard an EMS broadcast say they had a "boy shot in the temple and his heart rate was dropping."

Sanchez said her reaction was "how did this happen. I don't want to be part of this."

Gunshots heard in park

Witness Ashley Garcia, 26, was the first to put Torres at the scene. A teenage runaway and admitted daily drug abuser at the time, Garcia testified she and Torres' alleged girlfriend drove Torres and Edward Salas to the Perez apartment where they met Demetrio and Griego.

Garcia said she knew Torres as "Little Loco." She and Torres' alleged girlfriend walked to nearby Dennis Chavez park because "Noe and Edward were taking forever." They were sitting at the park talking, Garcia said.

"What happened next?" asked District Attorney Andrea Reeb.

"Gunshots," said Garcia.

Garcia said they quickly made it back to the car they had parked near the apartment. Torres took the keys from her and drove, she said.

Garcia said she was panicking in the back seat with her friend.

Later, Garcia said, she got telephone calls from Torres and he told her to keep her mouth shut. Edward Salas also got on the phone and threatened her, Garcia said.

During Garcia's direct testimony, Reeb had to resort to helping refresh Garcia's memory by letting her read transcripts of her previous testimony at trials against the others since convicted.

On cross examination by Ward, Garcia admitted her daily drug use 1o years ago but said she had long since cleaned up. Garcia said during that period in 2005 she was high all the time.

Witness needed two years to remember

Witness Cassandra Flores testified Torres had called her at her home in Muleshoe and asked her to meet him at the apartments. Flores said she was in the park with Garcia and Torres' alleged girlfriend when they heard shots fired. She also said she was in the back seat of the car with Garcia and the alleged girlfriend as Torres sped away so fast that when he hit a speed bump, it slammed her head against the roof of the car.

Ward asked Flores on cross examination about her previous testimony she sometimes "saw things" because of her drug use.

During further questioning, Flores admitted she told police early in the investigation she had no knowledge of the shooting. She said it wasn't until two years later, when investigators found her DNA in the car Torres allegedly fled in, that Flores said she began to recall the events of the night.

Under redirect with Reeb, Flores said she began to recall the events two years later because investigators began asking her more specific questions.

Testimony continues today.

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