By Adriana M. Chávez
The El Paso Times
EL PASO, Texas — Defense attorneys for murder suspect Eddie Anthony Murillo suggested at his trial Friday that paramedics and firefighters did not do enough to save the life of a girl trapped under a car.
Prosecutors say Murillo, 23, fired gunshots at his birthday party last summer, causing a panic that led a motorist to run over and kill 17-year-old Brenda Brito.
Dr. Karen Griest of New Mexico, an independent forensic pathologist, testified that Brito might have stopped breathing when paramedics arrived but that did not necessarily mean she was dead.
“There was no indication that the heart had stopped,” Griest said. “I think she could have been resuscitated.”
Griest, who examined Brito’s medical records and autopsy report, said paramedics and police officers needed only to lift the vehicle a few more inches with a car jack to relieve the pressure on Brito’s chest.
Earlier in the week, paramedics testified that they followed the usual protocol of calling a physician at Thomason Hospital to determine what steps to take. On the advice of the doctor, they declared Brito dead on the scene. Griest, though, said the doctor’s decision was a poor one.
Under cross-examination by prosecutors, Griest said she was not blaming emergency workers for Brito’s death. Rather, she said, Brito was killed by the car on top of her.
Griest was also questioned by defense attorney David Morales about a gunshot wound Adrian Poblano, 17, received at the party. Murillo is also charged with aggravated assault for allegedly shooting Poblano.
Griest said the wound he received could have been caused by Poblano’s falling on concrete or gravel.
But Assistant District Attorney John Briggs got her to acknowledge that it could have been a bullet wound. He asked Griest whether the wound could have been caused by a bullet fragment or a bullet that either ricocheted or passed through another object. She agreed that was possible.
Defense attorneys also tried to explain the origins of Murillo’s nickname, “Shooter.”
Miguel Del Campo, a recreational specialist with the city Parks and Recreation Department, said he gave Murillo the nickname about 10 years ago while Murillo spent time after school at the San Juan Recreation Center in Central El Paso. Del Campo said Murillo, an avid basketball player, was a boy who could sink long-range shots.
Murillo’s childhood friend, Christopher Navarro, 21, said Murillo has been called “Shooter” since he was about 10. He denied telling police that Murillo was given the nickname because Murillo “is always packing,” or carrying a gun.
Navarro, who was at the party, said he did not see Murillo with a gun.
Vanessa Robles, Murillo’s girlfriend and the mother of his three sons, testified that she never saw Murillo with a gun at the party, which she threw for him. She said she was with Murillo in the backyard when they heard “firecrackers.”
The Monday after Brito’s death, Robles and her 2-year-old son traveled to San Antonio so that the boy could have surgery to repair a hole in his heart. Murillo did not join them. Instead, he fled to his mother’s house in Las Cruces after he learned police were looking for him.
Before prosecutors rested their case, they called Brito’s mother, Elisa Esparza, to the stand.
She identified a photo of her daughter. They then asked her to look at a photo of Brito’s bruised, swollen face as she lay on the autopsy table. Esparza broke into sobs and said, “She was my daughter.”
Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys asked her anything else.
The lawyers will make their closing arguments Monday.
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