Pubdate: Tue,  3 Feb 2004
Source: Pueblo Chieftain (CO)
Copyright: 2004 The Star-Journal Publishing Corp.
Contact:  http://www.chieftain.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1613
Author: Patrick Malone

VILLALOBOS TO SERVE LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE

Convicted murderer Fernando Villalobos was sentenced Monday
to life in prison without possibility of parole, for killing
18-year-old Dustin Valdez during a drug swindle in August 2002.

A Pueblo jury last month found Villalobos, 34, guilty of first-degree
murder and aggravated robbery in the shooting of Valdez in an alley
behind the 700 block of West Abriendo Avenue.

Life was the only sentence available to District Judge Dennis Maes, so
neither the prosecution nor the defense offered statements before it
was imposed. Villalobos' lawyers plan to appeal the conviction.

Villalobos' co-defendant, 20-year-old Leroy DeShawn Bachicha, was the
star witness against him. Bachicha pleaded guilty to second-degree
murder and testified against Villalobos in exchange for a prison
sentence of no more than 28 years. A sentencing date for Bachicha has
not been set.

Bachicha was the only witness to testify that Villalobos was in the
alley when Valdez was shot. Bachicha admitted that he had arranged a
drug deal with Valdez and planned to sell him 10 pounds of fake
marijuana for $4,250.

A friend of Bachicha, Jayson Seifried, 19, testified that he helped
Bachicha package bundles of leaves and grass clippings to resemble
marijuana for the deal. Seifried said he was stunned later to learn of
the shooting, because he was unaware that the scheme's target was
Valdez, whom he knew and considered a friend. Prosecutors granted
Seifried immunity for his testimony.

Another figure from Villalobos' trial who has not been charged with a
crime is Valdez's stepfather, Raymond McCune, who asked Valdez to find
10 pounds of pot. McCune testified that his cousin in Alabama wired
him $5,000 for the transaction and was on his way to Colorado to pick
up the drugs when Valdez was killed. McCune was not promised anonymity.

Bachicha testified that he told Villalobos he was planning to sell
Valdez fake marijuana, and Villalobos took over from there. Bachicha
claims Villalobos drove a Jeep Cherokee borrowed from Bachicha's
friend, Brian "Gordy" Guardamondo, to pick up Valdez at a parking lot
near the Arkansas River just south of Fourth Street.

Bachicha said Valdez handed Villalobos the money almost immediately
after entering the Jeep, then they drove to the alley in the 700 block
of West Abriendo Avenue. There, Bachicha said Villalobos stopped
midway through the alley, turned up the Jeep's stereo and, with no
warning, shot Valdez in the head with a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum.

Police arrested Bachicha a few blocks from the shooting minutes after
it happened. Villalobos eluded capture for almost a month. During that
time, he was accused of robbing another person.

Charges in that case will be dropped a week from today, when
Villalobos is expected to enter a guilty plea in an unrelated case in
which he allegedly menaced a motorist with a gun. Charges of resisting
arrest and assault on a police officer from the day of Villalobos'
capture on murder charges also will be dismissed as part of the plea
agreement, according to Deputy District Attorney Jim Bentley.

Also as part of the pact, charges will not be filed against Villalobos
for a reported assault on another inmate at county jail.

Before sentencing Villalobos, Maes noted the ferocity of the crime he
was convicted of committing.

"There's a part of me that doesn't want to believe this for the mere
fact that it's such a cruel act done with no compassion or respect for
human life," Maes said. "To do this for $4,250 or $5,000 makes me
wonder what it's all about. What are any of our lives worth?"
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