Romero testified that he then lay on the floor, bleeding from a neck wound, and watched Little and another man kill three of his friends.
“When I fell, I saw how they shot everyone, because I did not faint,” he said.
Romero took the stand in Carthage Friday on the first day of Little’s trial on charges including three counts of first-degree murder.
Dead in a trailer at Sunset Mobile Home Park in Robbins on June 3, 2002, were Jose Luis Zapatero, 38, of Robbins; Emedel Rosas Hernandez, 23, of Robbins; and Elmer Adan Carbajal, 25, of Candor. Kevin Nicholas Brower of Eagle Springs has also been charged in the murders. Brower faces trial later, probably sometime this summer.
Superior Court Judge Jerry Cash Martin will sentence Little to death if he is convicted on even one of those counts and the jury decides against life in prison.
Martin, who has spent years on the bench, has heard many an opening and closing statement.
“That includes ‘dream team’ lawyers F. Lee Bailey and Johnny Cochran,” he told the jury, cautioning them that opening statements are but a kind of roadmap, a preview of evidence, not evidence itself.
“What you are going to hear is a story,” Assistant District Attorney Warren McSweeney said, saying evidence would show Little and Brower went with guns to rob and murder. They killed three men, tried to kill another, stole a kilogram of cocaine, then took steps to cover their tracks, according to the prosecution’s theory of the case.
“Romero was contacted by Brower,” he said. “He wanted to buy one kilogram of cocaine. Romero contacted Zapatero. The price was $23,500. The deal was to take place at Zapatero’s residence.”
A kilogram is 1,000 grams metric, or 2.2 pounds.
“You are going to hear about the defendant having .45 caliber gun,” McSweeney said. “You are going to hear about nothing more than one dollar bills wrapped up with a 20 around the outside.”
Brower and Little followed Romero to the trailer park, McSweeney said.
“Elmer Adan Carbajal comes to that trailer with cocaine,” he said. “There is a discussion that there was not 1,000 grams there. They were seven ounces short.”
That is when gunfire erupted, according to the state.
“The defendant, standing next to Juan, shoots Juan in the neck,” McSweeney said. “The bullet goes out the back of his neck, and he falls to the floor in a pool of his own blood. He sees the defendant start shooting at his friends and others in trailer.”
McSweeney described the two driving away, dumping guns and clothing, taking the borrowed car to South Carolina followed by two women in another vehicle.
“They find an old abandoned field off the side of the road,” he said. “The defendant torches the car. Delilah Miller and Tanya Robinson followed them down and brought them back to a Days Inn in Rockingham. You will hear how they were arrested with approximately 897 grams of cocaine.”
This was not a drug deal gone sour, he argued. It was a case of robbery and murder pure and simple.
‘Two Sides to a Pancake’
Michael Howell rose to preview the defendant’s evidence.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, there are two sides to a pancake, two sides to a case,” Howell said. “This is the other side. This was a drug deal. The crucial events occurred roughly over a three-hour time period from 3 in the afternoon to around 6 p.m.”
Three residences were settings for connected events, according to Howell: the home of Charles Smith and Julie Schwartz, Romero’s home in Robbins and Zapatero’s trailer in the Sunset Mobile Home Park.
According to Howell’s story, Little and his friend Brower called Romero (whom Brower knew) trying to buy a kilogram of cocaine.
“They drove over to Romero’s residence,” Howell said. “They had $23,500 cash in a bag. They also had a gun apiece. Often drug dealers carry guns. That is just part of the trade.
“At some point Romero calls Zapatero and places the order. Zapatero tells them to come on over to the house, so they did. Smith and Schwartz let William and Brower borrow a car, this blue Oldsmobile. Juan drives his car, William and Brower follow in the blue car. They arrive at Mr. Zapatero’s trailer. Brower carried the bag of $23,500.
“They wait for the cocaine to arrive. While waiting, Romero drinks some beer with the others. Finally Carbajal arrives with the drugs. The drugs were taken into the trailer by Hernandez.”
The cocaine, Howell said, was in two “bricks.”
“That is how it comes into the country before it is broken down into powder,” he said. “During negotiations, they are told, ‘You are four ounces short.’ That is, 112 grams less than a kilo. The deal was one kilo for $23,500. It was a tense situation. During that disagreement, things went terribly bad. William shot Juan under his neck, but luckily he survived. After that, other shots were fired rapidly by William and Brower. The other Mexicans were dead.”
‘Spontaneous Shooting’
Howell then stated the basic defense position.
“It was a spontaneous shooting during a drug deal,” he said. “Our evidence will show this was not a planned robbery. It was a drug deal gone wrong.”
He laid out what he contended were two crucial issues for the jury: whether it was robbery or a drug deal, and why Little started shooting.
“William came from a different culture, a different set of rules,” he said. “Drug deals, violence were part of his life. At 10, he was on the streets. At 12 years old, he was selling drugs. This produced a young man always in danger.”
Both state and defense urged jurors to keep an open mind as they heard evidence in the case.
“It may not be evident until the very end what happened,” Howell said. “It is a puzzle you may solve, or you may not. I ask you to keep an open mind.”
Romero, who speaks little English, testified with the assistance of a translator.
On maps of the crime scene provided first by the state and then by the defense, Romero traced the movements of each person in that trailer the afternoon of June 3, 2002.
He told of getting up to go as Zapatero tried to explain why the cocaine was not quite a full kilogram, and promised to make up the difference.
Romero passed the money and drugs on a table, and crossed around between Little and Brower (who were standing together) and Zapatero, Carbajal, and Hernandez, he testified.
“When I stood up and said, ‘OK, I am going,’ I looked outside,” Romero said. “Then the black man said, ‘It’s OK.’ When I turned to look out the window — like that — the black man shot me right here [pointing at his right throat]. After that, they just started shooting, like that.”
Romero extended his arm, pointing a finger as if using a pistol.
McSweeney paused.
“Is the person that shot you in the courtroom?” he asked.
‘Thought I Was Dead’
Romero looked past the jury into the room, gazing this way and that.
“I don’t see him,” he said.
McSweeney let it pass. The defense does not contest Little’s involvement.
Romero said he had not seen any guns before the shooting started, because the men wore loose clothing.
“When he shot me here I fell on the floor,” he said, pointing to his neck. “I could see what they were doing. They were shooting at my friends. Both of them were shooting … I didn’t move then, so they would not shoot me. They thought I was dead, because they had hit me here.”
He did not know where the shooters went.
“They picked up the drugs and the money and they left,” he said.
“Did Emedel, Elmer, or Luis have any guns?” McSweeney asked.
“Not that I know of,” Romero said. “I did not know. I did not see any.”
On Howell’s cross-examination, Romero admitted signing a statement the day after the shooting saying he saw the $24,500. He also said he worked using a Social Security card his uncle gave him 10 years ago.
Broader questions about his immigration status were not allowed. Martin took evidence in a closed session to be sealed for the record, and advised Guerrero of his rights against self-incrimination.
