Colorado: Motel Killing Was An Accident
Teresa/Colorado
Attorneys: Motel killing was accident
by Pamela Dickman
Special to Daily Times-Call
FORT COLLINS - Albert Raymond Gonzales killed Priscilla Sturgeon in the
Kings Court Motel in Loveland Oct. 30, 1998.
Neither defense nor prosecuting attorneys are disputing that fact in the
Thornton man's first-degree murder trial, which started Monday in 8th
Judicial District Court.
The attorneys do dispute Gonzales' degree of guilt.
Prosecutors say he is guilty of first-degree murder, which requires
intent and deliberation, while defense attorneys say her death was
accidental.
A jury of 12 - six men and six women - will decide Gonzales' guilt after
hearing testimony this week. If convicted of first-degree murder, Gonzales
faces life in prison. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
Deputy District Attorney Mitch Murray spoke of how Sturgeon, a
36-year-old mother of two living in Longmont, had battled drugs and was
trying to change her life - a life that ended at the hands of Gonzales, in
Room 21 of the Kings Court Motel early morning Oct. 30.
"He grabbed her by the neck, crunched her to the floor and choked her
with such power and such violence he broke a bone in her neck," Murray said.
Gonzales then grabbed a pillow and put it over Sturgeon's face, he said.
"And he held it there until she suffocated and died," Murray said. "Then
he left."
Gonzales was not planning to kill Sturgeon, public defender Janet Laughon
said. The couple, who both battled drug addictions, were willingly together
in Loveland, she said. People saw them together, having a good time, Laughon
said.
The pieces of evidence show a happy couple, she said.
"Once you put all those pieces together, that evidence will reveal an
unintentional, accidental death," Laughon said. "There's no evidence Albert
Gonzales planned this. There's no plot. There's no evidence he had thought
about this before ... Albert Gonzales was reacting to a paranoid,
drug-induced state but not out of intent... You'll see that he loved her."
Sturgeon and Gonzales had been dating off and on for about a year and a
half, her mother, Peggy Sturgeon, and ex-husband, Robert Olson, testified.
They admitted Sturgeon was battling an addiction to crack cocaine. Peggy
Sturgeon was caring for Priscilla's two young children while she dealt with
that addiction, they said.
Both spoke to Priscilla Oct. 29, 1998 - the day before her death. Each
said Priscilla called them and said she was in Loveland with friends. She
did not seem fearful or worried, both said.
Less than a day later, Sturgeon was dead.
A housekeeper found Sturgeon's body when she went to check the room,
motel manager Andy Farris testified.
Farris entered the room to check Sturgeon's pulse, found she was dead,
and left. No one else entered the room until police arrived, he said.
Sturgeon checked into the motel early Oct. 29, then Gonzales paid for a
second night, Farris said. The manager, who lives at the motel in a room
across from Room 21, said he did not notice anything was wrong or hear any
disturbance.
He heard Sturgeon's Volkswagen bug leave about 6 a.m. Oct. 30, 1998, and
assumed the couple left. Gonzales apparently left alone in the vehicle.
Less than 24 hours later, he showed up at his brother's home in Arvada.
Gonzales was paranoid and ranting and raving about men with guns who were
after him and someone being hurt at the Loveland motel, his brother, Richard
Gonzales, testified. Albert Gonzales' actions led his brother to think he
was high on drugs, he said.
Their sister also was at his home, and she told Richard she feared
something happened with Gonzales' girlfriend, Richard Gonzales testified.
Richard Gonzales could not get a complete story out of his brother, he
testified. Worried someone was hurt and in need of medical help, he told
Albert they were going to the liquor store and instead went to the
Westminster Police Department, he said.
Although it was apparent the building was not a liquor store, Albert
Gonzales willingly went inside, Richard Gonzales testified.
Police detained Albert Gonzales, and Loveland officers soon traveled to
Westminster to talk to him, according to Loveland police reports. Loveland
police arrested Gonzales, who has been held at the Larimer County Detention
Center since.
Testimony in his trial continues today.
Teresa/Colorado
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Man guilty in Loveland murder of Longmont woman
by Pamela Dickman
Special to the Daily Times-Call
FORT COLLINS - A jury found Albert Raymond Gonzales guilty of
first-degree murder for strangling Priscilla Sturgeon in a Loveland motel
Oct. 30, 1998.
After three hours of deliberation, the six men and six women returned a
guilty verdict Thursday in 8th Judicial District Court.
"I think the jury performed very diligently," said Peggy Sturgeon-Deak,
the victim's mother. "We'll be forever grateful."
Defense attorneys Kathryn Hay and Janet Laughon asked the jury to find
Gonzales guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder, arguing he
lacked intent and deliberation. They said he acted in a delusional,
drug-induced state.
Prosecutor Cliff Riedel countered that it was hardly an accident that
Gonzales strangled Sturgeon so hard he dislocated her vertebrae, broke a
bone in her neck and bruised her thyroid gland, then smothered her with a
pillow.
A housekeeper at the Kings Court Motel found Sturgeon crumpled on the
floor of Room 21, her legs bent at the knees under her and a pillow over her
face.
The 36-year-old Longmont woman died from strangulation and suffocation,
Larimer County Coroner Patrick Allen said.
Her family and friends waited in the courthouse hallway during
deliberations. After hearing the verdict, Sturgeon-Deak cried and hugged
Riedel.
Priscilla Sturgeon's daughters, 10-year-old Danielle and 6-year-old
Diana, sat with their grandmother.
Jim Deak, Peggy Sturgeon-Deak's husband, lifted Diana into his arms
outside the courtroom. The youngster threw her arms into the air and
exclaimed, "He's guilty. Yippee!"
In the courtroom, Gonzales showed no emotion and stared straight ahead.
Throughout the trial, Riedel and prosecutor Mitch Murray unraveled a tale
of domestic violence ending in death. They presented evidence that Gonzales,
a 42-year-old former glass installer from Thornton, had hit Sturgeon and,
two days before her death, threatened to kill her and her children.
When her body was found, Sturgeon was dressed as though she were trying
to make a hurried escape, Riedel said. Her T-shirt was on backward, she
wasn't wearing undergarments, she was wearing shoes without socks, and her
shoes were untied. Police found her purse on the floor next to her body.
"There was a fight Oct. 30 in Room 21 of the Kings Court Motel," Riedel
said. "Oh yes, there was a fight. Priscilla Sturgeon did not pick that
fight. She tried to get away ...
"There was a fight, but it wasn't a fair fight. ... It was a fight to the
death, and Priscilla Sturgeon lost."
Laughon and Hay did not dispute that Gonzales killed Sturgeon. They
contended that intent and deliberation - vital factors in proving
first-degree murder - were not there.
Gonzales and Sturgeon were high on alcohol and crack cocaine, they said.
Intoxication rendered him paranoid and delusional to the point he thought
armed men were after him, they said.
The couple was in Loveland partying and having a good time, the defense
attorneys said. If Gonzales had planned to kill her, he would have brought a
weapon and wouldn't have been seen around town with her before her death,
Laughon said.
"Albert Gonzales and Priscilla Sturgeon led a life that spun out of
control," Laughon said. "Albert Gonzales is responsible for Priscilla
Sturgeon's death. Hold him accountable for that, but don't hold him
accountable for first-degree murder, because he is not guilty of that."
Gonzales faces life in prison. Judge James Hiatt scheduled his sentencing
for 9:30 a.m. May 5.
While talking about her daughter during a break in the trial,
Sturgeon-Deak said, "Like (Priscilla's sister) Sharon (Glenn) says, we're
the ones that got the life sentence."
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