The ex-wife of a man accused of a brutal revenge murder testified Tuesday that he assaulted her the afternoon after the alleged murder.
The woman’s account came on the second day of testimony in the trial of 37-year-old Gabino Salinas, who is accused of kidnapping, beating, and dragging 32-year-old Jose Angel Martinez from a Jeep through an orchard before slitting the man’s throat.
Salinas was charged with capital murder, possession of marijuana, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated kidnapping.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Salinas’ ex-wife, Maria Patino, testified to the court that Salinas had pistol whipped her and choked her the afternoon of the alleged murder when he returned home after being gone for more than two days.
Details of the assault weren’t heard by the jury because the defense argued that that portion of the testimony would poison the defendant’s image in the minds of the jurors.
Patino said two bullets and a bag of cocaine fell out of Salinas’ pocket during the assault and that he only stopped when their baby, who was in the same room at the time, began to cry.
She also told the jury her ex-husband had been coming and going the day of the murder while picking their children up from school.
At one point, she and her baby went with Salinas and his co-defendant Benjamin Chavez Sanchez, 25, to pick up her oldest son, who was 11 at the time, from school. She said there were open cans of alcohol and two firearms in the vehicle.
Patino also detailed to jurors what she felt was a threat when she told Salinas her Jeep was dirty and smelled strange, like sweat.
He told her he would be back that night and that she would help him clean it, according to her testimony.
Rather than stay, Patino grabbed personal documents and a change of clothes for the kids and took off to look for help.
Wilmer Vasquez, the ranch hand from Ricardo Moreno’s testimony on Monday took the stand Tuesday as well. Moreno testified Monday he was also kidnapped alongside Martinez and was forced to dispose of the man’s body.
Vasquez, a Honduras native, was there the night the group arrived with the kidnapped men.
Vasquez testified that Martinez was already dead when they pulled him out the back of the vehicle’s trunk. He said that co-defendant Sandy Lutz, 32, was the one who first attempted to cut Martinez’ body, but she had been struggling so Salinas told Moreno, who was still bound at the time, to take over the task.
The defense asked Vasquez who was giving the orders. He initially said it was co-defendant Hector Ruben Guerra, 48, but later corrected himself saying that Guerra, Salinas and Sanchez were all barking orders in English, which he couldn’t understand.
When asked why he hadn’t called 9-1-1, Vasquez said they had taken his phone from him and he was scared for his life. He believed that he would be killed if he didn’t comply.
The ranch hand also told the jury that he had suggested they bury the body at another 3-acre ranch he tended to in Mission on Mayberry Street and Bryan Road because “it was darker there and no one would find out.”
It was at this ranch that the group burned a bloody blanket and other evidence of the crime in a barrel, according to the witness.
Vazquez and Moreno dug the hole with shovels after Lutz had attempted to dig the grave herself but found the terrain too hard, he testified.
After the ordeal, Vasquez said he washed the shovels, the machete used to cut the body and the blood stains from the initial Alton ranch.
The group had dropped him off at the property and asked Vasquez to join them on a trip to South Padre Island where they planned on partying, but the ranch hand told jurors he declined.
Sanchez, Lutz and Guerra are also facing charges of capital murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated kidnapping.
They have pleaded not guilty.
Testimony will resume Wednesday afternoon.
RELATED READING:
Witness describes drug-fueled night of violence at start of 2017 Edinburg murder trial
