Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 24, 2006 7:34:02 GMT -5
Bob Campbell, Midland Reporter-Telegram
A self-disfigured murder defendant's right to pre-trial reconstructive surgery is one of the issues Judge John Hyde will be asked to decide in the case against Aldo Pacheco of Odessa, who is accused of killing his former wife and her friend Jan.
Ray Fivecoat, Pacheco's court-appointed attorney, said Friday the issue will be addressed in motions he files preparatory to the capital murder trial in which prosecutors will seek life without parole.
Missing his left eye and part of his left jawbone from attempting suicide with a shotgun, Pacheco's mouth was pulled high up the left side of his face when he made a pre-trial appearance in Hyde's court at 11:15 a.m. Friday.
The defendant's April 5 indictment was put into the 238th District's rotation of priority cases, meaning it will probably be tried late this summer or fall, Fivecoat said. "They were supposed to have done something by now," he said.
"Aldo was supposed to see the doctor and he can't get an answer why he has not been able to."
Fivecoat said Pacheco last saw a physician in May, after being released from Midland Memorial Hospital, and was told then he would receive more medical attention. He is able to eat but has trouble chewing, the lawyer said.
"I don't know when they will set the trial, but we'll tee it up," he said, explaining Assistant District Attorney Tim Flathers is so far offering only life without parole in exchange for a guilty plea.
Pacheco is charged with using a sawed-off shotgun to kill his former wife Barbara, 36, and her 39-year-old friend, Eric Wiggs, both of whom were teachers at Cavazos Elementary School in Odessa, at her home in the 700 block of West Pine Avenue.
Sheriff Gary Painter on Friday said he is opposed to expending any more county funds for additional attention. "He is able to function and anything past that would be a cosmetic deal," Painter said.
"If he gets found not guilty and gets on the outside, he can get it done at his own expense, not the county's."
Painter said Pacheco might get further treatment if incarcerated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. "I imagine it will be expensive because anything having to do with medical treatment is," he said.
"I don't think there's any question he will be found guilty because the facts of the case will speak for themselves and a Midland County jury will do what's appropriate. Then it will be up to the TDCJ and it won't be a county problem."
Flathers recently said he and District Attorney Al Schorre decided against seeking the death penalty because the only one assessed locally in this decade was in 2003 against Clint Young, who killed two men in a carjacking spree and had a more extensive prior record of violence than Pacheco.
"It was a heinous act and we're going to seek the most serious punishment short of having him executed," the prosecutor said.
Source : Midland Reporter-Telegram
www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16954719&BRD=2288&PAG=461&de
A self-disfigured murder defendant's right to pre-trial reconstructive surgery is one of the issues Judge John Hyde will be asked to decide in the case against Aldo Pacheco of Odessa, who is accused of killing his former wife and her friend Jan.
Ray Fivecoat, Pacheco's court-appointed attorney, said Friday the issue will be addressed in motions he files preparatory to the capital murder trial in which prosecutors will seek life without parole.
Missing his left eye and part of his left jawbone from attempting suicide with a shotgun, Pacheco's mouth was pulled high up the left side of his face when he made a pre-trial appearance in Hyde's court at 11:15 a.m. Friday.
The defendant's April 5 indictment was put into the 238th District's rotation of priority cases, meaning it will probably be tried late this summer or fall, Fivecoat said. "They were supposed to have done something by now," he said.
"Aldo was supposed to see the doctor and he can't get an answer why he has not been able to."
Fivecoat said Pacheco last saw a physician in May, after being released from Midland Memorial Hospital, and was told then he would receive more medical attention. He is able to eat but has trouble chewing, the lawyer said.
"I don't know when they will set the trial, but we'll tee it up," he said, explaining Assistant District Attorney Tim Flathers is so far offering only life without parole in exchange for a guilty plea.
Pacheco is charged with using a sawed-off shotgun to kill his former wife Barbara, 36, and her 39-year-old friend, Eric Wiggs, both of whom were teachers at Cavazos Elementary School in Odessa, at her home in the 700 block of West Pine Avenue.
Sheriff Gary Painter on Friday said he is opposed to expending any more county funds for additional attention. "He is able to function and anything past that would be a cosmetic deal," Painter said.
"If he gets found not guilty and gets on the outside, he can get it done at his own expense, not the county's."
Painter said Pacheco might get further treatment if incarcerated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. "I imagine it will be expensive because anything having to do with medical treatment is," he said.
"I don't think there's any question he will be found guilty because the facts of the case will speak for themselves and a Midland County jury will do what's appropriate. Then it will be up to the TDCJ and it won't be a county problem."
Flathers recently said he and District Attorney Al Schorre decided against seeking the death penalty because the only one assessed locally in this decade was in 2003 against Clint Young, who killed two men in a carjacking spree and had a more extensive prior record of violence than Pacheco.
"It was a heinous act and we're going to seek the most serious punishment short of having him executed," the prosecutor said.
Source : Midland Reporter-Telegram
www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16954719&BRD=2288&PAG=461&de