State v. Villanueva
| Decision Date | 17 December 2020 |
| Docket Number | 36694-4-III |
| Parties | STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. AMBROSIO MENDEZ VILLANUEVA, and JULIO CESAR ALBARRAN-VARONA, Defendants, GUSTAVO TAPIA RODRIGUEZ, Appellant. |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
Gustavo Tapia Rodriguez (Tapia) appeals his conviction and life sentence for aggravated first degree murder. We affirm, but remand to the trial court to strike "Felony Murder" from the current offenses paragraph of the judgment.
Tapia was the self-appointed leader of a group of men involved in vandalism, drugs, and murder. He, along with his cohorts-Chato[1], Zapatos[2], Julio[3], and Chivo[4]- lived at the Shady Tree RV Park near George, Washington. Chato was romantically involved with the victim, Jill Sundberg.
On the evening of December 21, 2016, Chato and Jill, along with several others, were in Chato's trailer drinking and using illegal drugs. Later in the evening, Tapia, Julio Zapatos and Chivo joined the party. Because the trailer was fairly small, several people left, leaving just Tapia, Jill Chato, Chivo, Julio, and Zapatos.
Around midnight, Jill and Tapia began arguing in English. Because no one else in the trailer spoke English, the substance of the argument was unknown. However, Tapia later told his cohorts that Jill had disrespected his family and was possibly working with law enforcement to bring him down. When Tapia left the trailer with Chato, Chivo, and Zapatos, he ordered Julio to remain with Jill in the trailer and to not let her leave.
Later at Tapia's direction, Chivo and Zapatos returned to the trailer to get Jill and put her in Tapia's sport utility vehicle (SUV). When Jill realized what was happening, she attempted to resist by pulling out a knife. In response Zapatos pulled out a gun and was going to shoot Jill, but Julio stopped him because he did not want the neighbors to hear the gunshot. Julio and Zapatos took Jill's knife and cell phone and forced her into the backseat of Tapia's SUV.
With Tapia driving and Jill crying in the back seat, the group left the RV park. Jill had no ability to escape-she was sandwiched between three men in the backseat and Zapatos had tied her hands together with a cell phone cord. Tapia drove west on Interstate 90, turning off on a road near the Old Vantage Highway that led down to the river. When Tapia stopped at a dark parking area, Chivo and Julio forced Jill out of the SUV. Jill asked "why?" but Julio told her to stay quiet. Report of Proceedings (RP) (Feb. 5, 2019) at 1062. Jill was then forced to kneel and Julio pushed her head down. Tapia then shot Jill in her head and back emptying the entire magazine of his gun. The group returned to the SUV and began driving away but stopped briefly to allow Chivo to run back to Jill's body with a cardboard box. Chivo then affixed the box to Jill's body by stabbing a knife through it and into her back. There was a message written in Spanish on the box. Translated to English, it read, "'This is for all the rats that are f[ ]ing around, women and rats that have no respect for the Gulf Cartel.'" RP (Feb. 13, 2019) at 1797-98.
On the way back to Shady Tree, the men stopped at a convenience store in Quincy where Zapatos and Julio bought beer and cigarettes. Once at Shady Tree, they grabbed Jill's belongings and drove to the Vantage Bridge where they threw them over the bridge into the river. The group returned to Shady Tree where some of them slept for a few hours. Around 11:00 a.m., the group (with the exception of Zapatos) drove to Ephrata to buy ammunition and then drove to an apple orchard near Mattawa to practice shooting.
On December 22, 2016, a hiker found Jill's body. Near her body, police recovered 13 shell casings. Investigators also recovered a Bud Light can. Forensic testing found Chato's DNA[5] on the can.
Those close to Jill told the investigators she was living or spending a lot of time at Shady Tree RV Park. Accordingly, investigators focused their investigation on residents of Shady Tree and anyone who had seen Jill on the night of December 21, 2016. Destiny Jade Rivera and Leslie Silva Diaz were both interviewed and said they were at Chato's trailer on December 21, 2016. While they were there, they also saw Jill, Tapia, Zapatos, and Julio. Investigators also interviewed Chato, who had been taken into custody on unrelated charges.
After Chato was read his Miranda[6] rights, he gave a full and complete statement of the events leading up to and after Jill's murder. Chato implicated Tapia as the shooter and Julio, Chivo, and Zapatos as assisting with the murder. Chato denied any involvement in Jill's abduction. Rather, he said he had refused to help get Jill into Tapia's SUV and, although he was forced to go with the men, he did not watch Tapia actually shoot Jill. Chato's trial testimony matched this statement.
Based on information obtained during these and other interviews, the State obtained arrest warrants and statements from Tapia, Chivo, and Julio.
Tapia waived his Miranda rights and willingly answered the investigator's questions. He said he knew Jill but had not seen her for months. He also said that on the evening of December 21, 2016, he went to Chato's trailer to discuss Chato moving but did not go into the trailer and did not see Jill at the trailer. Throughout the interview, Tapia denied taking part in Jill's murder. Tapia told investigators that Julio and Zapatos frequently borrowed his SUV, often without permission. Tapia did not testify at trial.
Chivo gave a written statement to investigators under penalty of perjury. The following are excerpts from Chivo's statement, which was later admitted at trial: Chivo lived with Tapia, Zapatos, and Julio at the Shady Tree RV Park. On December 21, 2016, Tapia got in an argument with Jill but it was in English, so he could not understand what was being said. He left the trailer but soon was told to get into Tapia's SUV with Jill, Tapia, Chato, Julio, and Zapatos. Tapia drove to an area where no one was around. Julio forced Jill out of the SUV and then Tapia shot her. He heard three to four shots. Just after they began to leave, Tapia told him to grab a cardboard box with writing on it and to place it on Jill. So he took a knife and stabbed the box into Jill's back to hold it in place. After this, they went to Quincy to buy beer at a gas station. When asked about the box he stabbed into Jill's back, Chivo said he did not want to be part of the murder, but Tapia told him if he did not help, he would be "left out to sleep like Jill." Ex. 163. Chivo did not know what happened to the gun that was used to kill Jill although he did hide a different gun for Tapia in his toilet. He did not previously say anything to law enforcement because he was scared.
Chivo could not read or write. He gave Detective Ryan Green permission to type the statement. Deputy David Delarosa, who was translating for Chivo during the interview, read the written statement to Chivo and gave Chivo the opportunity to make any changes before Chivo signed it under penalty of perjury.
Several months later, an investigator hired by defense counsel interviewed Chivo. Chivo recanted the events and information as detailed in his sworn statement. Chivo told the investigator that his previous statement was a lie and that he had no part in Jill's murder and did not have any information about Jill's murder. Julio
Julio denied hurting Jill, denied being present at her murder, and denied knowing who killed Jill. One year later, Julio gave another statement. The second statement, termed a free talk, was provided as part of a plea agreement. During the free talk, Julio provided a thorough description of the events surrounding Jill's murder that was consistent with the events as described by Chato and by Chivo.
As the investigation continued, significant physical and circumstantial evidence corroborated the statements of Chato Chivo, and Julio. Investigators found the murder weapon in Julio's backpack at the trailer where he was living. Investigators also obtained surveillance tapes from the gas station in Quincy showing Julio and Zapatos entering the convenience store and purchasing beer and cigarettes at a time consistent with witness statements. Additionally, after obtaining call detail records from AT&T through a search warrant, investigators used a private company to plot location data of the group's cell phones around the time of Jill's murder.
The location data showed Tapia's cell phone and the cell phones of Chato, Julio, and Zapatos[7] moving from Shady Tree, to the location of Jill's execution, to the convenience store in Quincy, and to the orchard near Mattawa-all locations consistent with the three witness statements. From the location data, investigators were also able to locate the exact orchard clearing where the men went shooting. There, investigators recovered several shell casings. One of the shell casings was forensically matched to the gun used to kill Jill.
By amended information, the State charged Tapia with two counts. The first count alleged murder in the first degree with the alternative means of premeditation or felony murder predicated on kidnapping. The State additionally alleged that the premeditated murder should be elevated to aggravated murder because it occurred during the course of a drive-by shooting (RCW 10.95.020(7)) or during the course of first degree kidnapping (RCW 10.95.020(11)(d)). Also, with respect to the first count, the State alleged the deliberate cruelty aggravator (RCW 9.94A.535(3)(a)) and a firearm enhancement. The second count alleged unlawful...
To continue reading
Request your trial