Jury rules DWI death a murder, punishment Monday
By BARRY HALVORSON news@leader-news.com

The driver of the pickup truck involved in the fatal wreck that claimed the life of Needville ISD Police Chief Ernest Mendoza the night of Jan. 19, 2007 was found guilty of felony murder by a Wharton County jury Friday morning.

With the verdict, the trial of Guillermo Paniagua Paniagua, 31, of Wharton enters its punishment phase Monday starting at 9:30 a.m. with District Attorney Josh McCown saying he expects the proceedings to last only one day.

It took the jury of 10 women and two men about two hours to reach a decision.

Following the jury's verdict, tears poured from the eyes of many of Mendoza's family members as they shared embraces and whispered words of relief with McCown and Assistant D.A. Gordon Dudley Jr. But since at least one member of the family will be asked to take the stand during the punishment phase, the D.A.'s office requested they not be interviewed until the proceedings are complete.

Under the felony murder law, the range of punishment is from five years to life. McCown added the jury can also consider a probated sentence.

With the trial continuing, both the defense and prosecution attorneys said they were limited in what they could say immediately following the verdict. While not criticizing the jury, El Campo attorney Richard Manske, part of the defense team, said he disagreed with the final decision.

"I didn't feel the state met the burden of proof in the case," he said.

In their closing arguments, both Manske and defense attorney David Kiatta of Houston stressed they felt the District Attorney's office had not met the burden of proof. They also maintained Mendoza shared responsibility for the wreck based on defense expert Mike James' testimony. Kiatta also questioned the motives of the law enforcement officials testifying for the state.

"With the police officer (DPS trooper) testimony, what do you believe," he asked. "Look for spin or slant and who is trying to convince you of (Paniagua's) guilt."

Kiatta said law enforcement started with a theory and tried to make it fit how they wanted the accident to have happened. As an example, he pointed out they "filled out every detail on Paniagua, but not on Mendoza."

He said James testified Mendoza had to be traveling faster than the speed limit and that both vehicles had to be out of their lane based on the results produced by his computer reconstruction program.

Manske stressed DPS had not collected a key piece of evidence, the restraint system "black box" recorder, which James claimed could have established the relative speeds of the vehicles.

Manske urged the jury to consider the evidence if they or a loved one had been on trial.

"A jury is not a democracy, it requires a unanimous vote," he said. "If even one of you wants to hold out, you have that right. Sometimes what happens in accidents is not clear. (Paniagua) put his life in our hands and now we're putting it in yours."

McCown said he felt the jury did an outstanding job of listening to the charge, reviewing the evidence and reaching a proper conclusion.

"We spent a lot of time explaining felony murder and it's pretty obvious the jury was pretty sharp and didn't have issues sorting out the experts' testimony. Trials have become more and more sophisticated with more experts getting involved, but the bottom line comes down to using common sense to make the decision."

Opening the prosecution's close, Dudley admitted trying to convict Paniagua.

"He murdered someone and it is our job to prove it," he said. "That guy (Paniagua) drove his truck while drunk, which is a felony, and then committed a dangerous act, driving into the other side of the road."

Dudley said there were no questions about Paniagua being intoxicated, pointing out blood evidence showed he was more than twice the legal limit 0.18 when taken into custody several hours after the wreck and that extrapolation showed he would have been three times the limit at the time of the collision.

He added that in a criminal case, there is no proportionality, no shared blame so that even if the jury thought Mendoza's actions contributed to the wreck, which McCown said he didn't concede, Paniagua was still responsible for the results of his actions.

In addressing James' testimony, Dudley did admit he was a "smart guy."

"But does that make him credible? You have to listen to what he said with a common sense filter. What he said doesn't make sense and reminds me of another Doctor - Dr. Seuss. (His testimony) was fiction and he fudged everywhere he could to make the result fit what he wanted them to fit."

In his portion of the closing statement, McCown touched on Paniagua's behavior during the night saying he chose to drink and then drive and then flee the scene.

"It makes me think of the first time I heard the phrase depraved indifference," he said. "It's one of the ways to commit murder under New York State law. Depraved indifference is a just don't care attitude. I trust (the jury's) common sense and know this man is a murderer. He cared more about drinking beer than about human life."