Wednesday, September 06, 2000
Witnesses' stories recorded
Officials fear illegal aliens may skip town
By Sheila McLaughlin
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MASON — Saying they fear witnesses to a July 30 slaying might leave because they are in the United States illegally, court officials used interpreters and a video camera to record the Mexican men's accounts of the crime Tuesday.
“We want to preserve the evidence for trial just in case they leave town,” City Prosecutor Robert Peeler said.
Seated next to interpreter Rox ana Hazlett, two roommates and a friend of construction workers Jesus Plasencia and Roberto Santos testified for 90 minutes, recalling how the two men began arguing on the way home from a dance in the early morning hours.
Sergio Baustista, Baltazar Contreras and Eugenio Velasquez said they did not know what the two men were fighting about. But, before 5 a.m., those differences left Mr. Santos lying dead from two stab wounds on the living room floor of the two-bedroom apartment he shared with six other men from Mexico.
Mr. Velasquez, who lived in the apartment, said Mr. Santos, 26, had punched Mr. Plasencia in the face several times throughout the night before the fight escalated inside the residence.
After listening to the testimony, visiting Judge Tom Fox ruled Tuesday that there was enough evidence to refer a charge of aggravated murder against Mr. Plasencia to a Warren County grand jury for possible indictment.
Mr. Plasencia, 18, remains in the Warren County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 cash bond.
Mason Detective Don Cope said the men who shared the apartment at Kings View on Parkside Lane told officers they did not have permits to live or work in the United States.
The men are employed by a small construction company that is helping build an apartment complex north of Middletown, Detective Cope said.
Language has created somewhat of a barrier in the case as prosecutors and police have relied on interpreters to question witnesses and translate their answers. Mr. Plasencia, who refused to give a statement, told police he does not speak English.
Warren County sheriff's deputies found Mr. Plasencia walking along U.S. 42 near Glosser Road more than two hours after the slaying.
During Tuesday's hearing, Mr. Baustista, Mr. Contreras and Mr. Velasquez identified him as the man who stabbed Mr. Santos with a steak knife.
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