Jury selection under way in soldier's first-degree murder trial
Jury selection began today in the first-degree murder trial of a Fort Carson soldier accused of killing two people with an assault rifle in a drive-by shooting in southeast Colorado Springs.
Pfc. Jomar Dioniso Falu-Vives, a 25-year-old decorated Iraq War veteran, is accused in the June 6, 2008, shooting deaths of Cesar Ramirez-Ibanez, 20, and Amairany Cervantes, 18.
They were shot to death while placing garage sale signs at Monterey Road and Carmel Drive.
Falu-Vives also has been charged in a May 5, 2008, drive-by shooting in which another Fort Carson soldier, Capt. Zachary Albert Szody, 26, was wounded in the buttocks and knee.
Colorado Springs police said that ballistics tests showed that bullets recovered from each of the shootings were fired from the same weapon.
One of the witnesses expected to testify against Falu-Vives is Spc. Rodolfo Torres-Gandarilla, 21, whom police say was riding along on both shootings.
He pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the crimes and was sentenced in April to 12 years in prison.
According to an arrest affidavit, police also interviewed a witness named Alonso “Turtle” Hernandez, who told police he was sitting in the front passenger seat of Vives’ Chevrolet Tahoe on the night of the double homicide.
In an affidavit, Hernandez described how they had been cruising when Vives, who had been driving, stopped at the intersection and said, “hand me the gun,” to one of the back seat passengers.
Hernandez told police Vives then pointed his AK-47 out the passenger window and opened fire. Hernandez said he had to cover his face to protect himself from the muzzle flash and swat away several hot spent shell casings that landed on him.
Falu-Vives has pleaded not guilty to eight felony counts, including first-degree murder and first-degree assault. If convicted on the first-degree murder charges, he faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Falu-Vives served in Iraq with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, which came to symbolize the problems veterans experienced after returning home from war. Ten of its infantrymen have been arrested and accused of murder, attempted murder or manslaughter since 2006. Others have committed suicide, or tried to.
For more court coverage, go to the Sidebar blog at Gazette.com
