News Update
State claims DNA, Williams link Raul Cortez to murders
Prosecutors try to put Raul Cortez at the scene of the Truett Street murders with testimony from alleged co-conspirator Eddie Ray Williams and DNA collected from the murder scene.
By Danny Gallagher, McKinney Courier-Gazette
Collin County District Attorney prosecutors claim that a combination of Eddie Ray Williams' testimony and Raul Cortez's DNA should be enough to erase any reasonable doubt that Raul Cortez was not in Rosa Barbosa's home on the night of the murders.
Prosecutors presented the DNA evidence after defense attorney Richard Franklin concluded a heated cross-examination with Williams during the seventh day of the Cortez capital murder trial Wednesday.
Dr. Rick W. Staub, a forensics laboratory director with Orchid Cellmark of Dallas, took the stand and testified on the possible matches of the DNA collected from the crime scene after the murders occurred on March 12, 2004.
Staub said the DNA taken from part of a latex glove that was stuck to the red duct tape used to blind and gag Rosa matched Cortez's profile. He also noted that Cortez could not be "excluded" from the samples he analyzed.
This damming piece of evidence was just one of two major feathers in the prosecution's cap. Williams testified on Tuesday that Cortez and his brother Javier planned the robbery of Rosa Barbosa at her home on Truett Street, and Raul pulled the fatal trigger on the 40-year-old woman in her bedroom after he and Javier grilled her on access information to the Cliff's Check Cashing business on W. University Avenue.
Franklin fought back hard against Williams' claims with allegations of secret deals made to testify against his client and incomplete recollections of the night in question. The defense attorney presented a series of tough, almost infuriating questions that hammered the capital murder suspect on his motives for testifying against Raul and the evolving and changing story he gave to police following his first confession in June of 2007.
Franklin opened his examination by handing a document to Williams that he referred to as "defense exhibit #3." He asked Williams if he could identify the document. Williams said he could not because he doesn't know how to read. Franklin then asked Williams where he went to school and the highest grade he achieved. When Williams said he only got as far as the 11th grade in the McKinney ISD, Franklin sarcastically responded, "What a shock."
Williams then reviewed the stories he gave to McKinney police after his then-girlfriend Talisha Haithcox made the all-important phone call to the McKinney PD. Williams admitted that he first told police he had served as a "lookout" during the robbery against his will under threat by the Cortez brothers. He also told police he had always been afraid of Raul and Javier Cortez and what they might do to him or his family. The brothers had told him they had connections in the Mexican mafia and he only agreed to help the brothers rob Rosa, not murder anyone.
"I didn't know they would take it so far," Williams said.
When asked by Franklin why he did not go to the police, Williams simply said, "I don't know."
Williams also admitted that he offered three different stories about the test firing of the gun in Raul's house on the day of the murders. At first, Williams said Raul fired the gun in the ceiling of his home in order to scare him. During another interview, he said he was test firing the gun to make sure it worked. Finally, he said Raul fired the gun to see if Javier could hear the shot from the outside of his home.
He also admitted that he did not want to go to jail and tried to distance himself from the acts of which he has been accused in the hopes he could cut a deal that would exonerate him from any punishment.
"I'm going to go [to jail] for a bad thing I've done," Williams said. "I don't know if I'm going to help myself any, but I want people to know the truth."
Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com.
By Danny Gallagher, McKinney Courier-Gazette
Collin County District Attorney prosecutors claim that a combination of Eddie Ray Williams' testimony and Raul Cortez's DNA should be enough to erase any reasonable doubt that Raul Cortez was not in Rosa Barbosa's home on the night of the murders.
Prosecutors presented the DNA evidence after defense attorney Richard Franklin concluded a heated cross-examination with Williams during the seventh day of the Cortez capital murder trial Wednesday.
Dr. Rick W. Staub, a forensics laboratory director with Orchid Cellmark of Dallas, took the stand and testified on the possible matches of the DNA collected from the crime scene after the murders occurred on March 12, 2004.
Staub said the DNA taken from part of a latex glove that was stuck to the red duct tape used to blind and gag Rosa matched Cortez's profile. He also noted that Cortez could not be "excluded" from the samples he analyzed.
This damming piece of evidence was just one of two major feathers in the prosecution's cap. Williams testified on Tuesday that Cortez and his brother Javier planned the robbery of Rosa Barbosa at her home on Truett Street, and Raul pulled the fatal trigger on the 40-year-old woman in her bedroom after he and Javier grilled her on access information to the Cliff's Check Cashing business on W. University Avenue.
Franklin fought back hard against Williams' claims with allegations of secret deals made to testify against his client and incomplete recollections of the night in question. The defense attorney presented a series of tough, almost infuriating questions that hammered the capital murder suspect on his motives for testifying against Raul and the evolving and changing story he gave to police following his first confession in June of 2007.
Franklin opened his examination by handing a document to Williams that he referred to as "defense exhibit #3." He asked Williams if he could identify the document. Williams said he could not because he doesn't know how to read. Franklin then asked Williams where he went to school and the highest grade he achieved. When Williams said he only got as far as the 11th grade in the McKinney ISD, Franklin sarcastically responded, "What a shock."
Williams then reviewed the stories he gave to McKinney police after his then-girlfriend Talisha Haithcox made the all-important phone call to the McKinney PD. Williams admitted that he first told police he had served as a "lookout" during the robbery against his will under threat by the Cortez brothers. He also told police he had always been afraid of Raul and Javier Cortez and what they might do to him or his family. The brothers had told him they had connections in the Mexican mafia and he only agreed to help the brothers rob Rosa, not murder anyone.
"I didn't know they would take it so far," Williams said.
When asked by Franklin why he did not go to the police, Williams simply said, "I don't know."
Williams also admitted that he offered three different stories about the test firing of the gun in Raul's house on the day of the murders. At first, Williams said Raul fired the gun in the ceiling of his home in order to scare him. During another interview, he said he was test firing the gun to make sure it worked. Finally, he said Raul fired the gun to see if Javier could hear the shot from the outside of his home.
He also admitted that he did not want to go to jail and tried to distance himself from the acts of which he has been accused in the hopes he could cut a deal that would exonerate him from any punishment.
"I'm going to go [to jail] for a bad thing I've done," Williams said. "I don't know if I'm going to help myself any, but I want people to know the truth."
Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com.
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