Faulkner County, Arkansas

A Faulkner County jury convicted a man of 2nd Degree Murder for the shooting death of a Conway man late Thursday evening. 

26 year old Ramon Mendez Rodriguez was charged by 20th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Marcus Vaden on the June 12, 2009 shooting of Julio Cota in front of 1403 Bean Street in Conway, near the YMBA Fairgrounds.  Rodriguez maintained a self defense claim throughout the trial which was rejected by the jury.

The facts surrounding the incident involved a fight between the two men in front of 20 to 30 witnesses.  After the fight was concluded, Rodriguez left and walked to his house, some 426 feet away and returned shortly with a 9 millimeter pistol and shot Cota six times.  According to prosecution witnesses, Cota fell to the ground after the first two shots and Rodriguez continued to shoot him as he lay on the ground.  Testimony by Dr. Stephen Erickson, medical examiner for the Arkansas Crime Lab, confirmed that some of the shots in Cota's body were received while he was against a hard surface, such as a road or wall. 

Eyewitnesses maintained that Rodriguez lost the initial fight and returned with a gun shortly thereafter and began shooting an unarmed Cota.  The defendant maintained that he acted in self defense and shot Cota only after the victim rushed him to attack him again.  He testified that he left the first fight and went to his house to get his cell phone to call the police and upon arriving there remembered that he had left his cell phone in his car at the scene.  He maintained that he only returned to the crime scene to get his cell phone to call the police. 

During cross examination by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Clawson, he characterized his shooting of Cota as "fixing his problem".  As Rodriguez left the scene, witnesses testified that he began shooting back toward the crowd.  He fled with two other individuals and they were later apprehended in Maumelle by the Arkansas State Police.  Conway Police investigating the scene recovered a number of spent shells whose ballistic tests confirmed that the gun used by Rodriguez in fact was the gun used to shoot Cota.

In the search of the Rodriguez house, investigators discovered a quantity of powdered cocaine in his room, valued between $7,000 and $10,000.  The defendant testified that he was merely a dairy farmer working for Simon Farms in Conway.  Vaden maintained to the jury that while the "defendant may be paying his living expenses by being a farmer, he is here in our country selling cocaine to our kids and sending his profits back to his family in Honduras." "He could be selling cocaine in his own country and making money but he had rather come and do it in ours" Vaden said.  The jury returned a verdict of guilty in approximately 3 hours after a 3 day long trial.  Approximately 25 witnesses were called by both the prosecution and the defense. 

After the guilt phase, the jury heard evidence regarding sentencing, the jury heard testimony from family members of the victim concerning his good character and the fact that now his children were fatherless.  The defense called two witnesses asserting that the defendant was of good character.  In arguing to the jury regarding the sentence, defense counsel maintained that the jury should be merciful and continued to maintain that the defendant acted only in self defense. 

"The defendant has said that after he is deported he will not return and you can rest assured that if he said it he won't", said defense attorney Reggie Koch.  Vaden maintained to the jury that the defendant had acted as judge, jury and executioner denying the victim of any rights that the defendant had been afforded during the last 3 days.  Vaden further argued to the jury that the defendant was a danger to the community and that they could not depend on the defendant's word that he wouldn't come back after deportation.  "I urge you to give him as long a sentence as you think you can because I assure you, within 30 days of his release and deportation we will be seeing him back on Bean Street."

After approximately 2 hours of deliberation on the issue of sentencing, the jury returned a sentence of 17 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction.  Circuit Judge David Reynolds sentenced the defendant pursuant to the jury's recommendation and ordered him transferred immediately to the Arkansas Department of Correction.  "I appreciate the hard work of the jury, the Conway Police Department, the Prosecutor's Office, and the courageous eyewitnesses that came forward to testify under very difficult circumstances", Vaden said.