EDINBURG — Jurors convicted a Brazilian hit man Thursday who authorities said was hired by a lesbian to kill her husband after she found her paramour at a rural Alton taqueria.
Eduardo Leme de Oliveira learned his guilty verdict after the jury deliberated about two hours Thursday afternoon in Hidalgo County Auxiliary Court. the day’s proceedings were delayed for several hours after a bomb threat evacuated the courthouse.
Jurors found de Oliveira, 40, to be the trigger man behind the slaying of 42-year-old Juan Antonio Morales in October 2008.
Morales was the common-law husband of Julissa Gonzalez, 26, who pleaded guilty to her role in the murder-for-hire plot in May 2009. She is serving a 10-year sentence for the guilty plea; her co-worker and lover, Enedelia “Nelly” Canales, 22, also pleaded guilty and is serving a 17-year sentence.
Prosecutors lacked direct evidence placing de Oliveira at the scene of Morales’ murder at an isolated spot near the intersection of 3 Mile Line and Schuerbach Roads.
De Oliveira’s defense lawyers pointed to that lack of direct evidence and pointed to other improprieties after Canales took the stand.
“Nelly wants you to believe she’s a good Christian and she’s upset with herself because she’s a lesbian,” defense attorney O. Rene Flores told jurors in his closing arguments. “I guess it’s OK for Christians to lie.”
Canales testified that she did not pay de Oliveira any money or grant sexual favors for him to kill Morales. His lawyer attempted to pin the murder directly on Canales, saying his client had no motive to kill Gonzalez’s husband.
The women met de Oliveira at Taqueria Don Felipe, a restaurant west of Alton where both women worked as waitresses.
“What motive did he have?” Flores asked. “She didn’t give him (sexual favors). She didn’t have sex with him. She didn’t give him anything in return.”
But prosecutor Hope Palacios used that point to further condemn Oliveira, who submitted a written confession to sheriff’s deputies after his extradition from Mexico in March. He’d fled south of the border shortly after Morales was found dead.
“He’s not a man who killed out of anger — not one who killed out of jealousy,” Palacios told jurors. “He killed to kill.”
Morales was described as a man who was a jealous womanizer who frequently abused Gonzalez. Investigators said he threatened his wife, an illegal immigrant, with deportation and to have her child taken away.
The sentencing phase in Oliveria’s trial is set to begin Friday. He faces up to life in prison and a $10,000 fine.
“He killed a man whose name he didn’t even know,” Palacios said.
<a href="http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/lesbian-134697-love-caught.htmltag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/lesbian-134697-love-caught.htmlFri, 09 Dec 2011 23:39:17 GMT”>Hitman caught in lesbian love triangle convicted of murder