Avalos joked about missing teen,
Jason Pope
rink buddy testifies
in murder trial
By Leslie Hoffman
Albuquerque Tribune reporter
Jesse Avalos Jr. is a "player" who took 18-year-old Carly Martinez
out on a winter night in 1998 with the hope of having sex with her.
When Martinez rebuffed his advances, Avalos willingly retreated. He
then fell asleep in a pickup truck and awoke to find his semiclad friend
and co-defendant, Jason Desnoyers, standing over the naked and bloodied
body of the young woman.
This is Avalos' story of how Martinez died on a remote mesa near
Las Cruces, according to the opening statement from Avalos' lawyer,
Jesse Cosby.
But a co-worker and friend of Avalos testified today that Avalos
joked about the disappearance of the New Mexico State University
freshman in the weeks after she vanished.
Sam Sanchez told an Albuquerque jury this morning that when the two
were at a Las Cruces roller rink after Martinez was reported missing,
Avalos heard a female customer yell and then said, "That's the way Carly
Martinez screamed."
And during a disruption at the roller rink when Avalos chased after
an unruly customer, Sanchez said Avalos told him, "If I'd . . . caught
him, he'd be missing like Carly Martinez."
Today was the first full day of trial testimony. Avalos, 27, is
facing first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape, conspiracy, evidence
tampering and criminal solicitation charges. His trial was moved to
Albuquerque because of pretrial publicity.
After picking an eight-man, six-woman jury, which includes
alternates, attorneys on Thursday gave their opening statements in the
case.
The account by Cosby, Avalos' defense attorney, mirrors that of
co-defendant Desnoyers' version of events but with one critical
difference -- Desnoyers claimed he was in the truck while Avalos killed
Martinez just a few feet away.
An Albuquerque jury in November didn't believe Desnoyers, and
convicted him of kidnapping, raping and murdering Martinez and then
attempting to cover up the crime.
Doña Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez, who is no
relation to the victim, told jurors during her opening statement
Thursday that "it took two men" to kill Carly Martinez.
"Jesse Avalos needs to be convicted on every single charge for the
absolute brutal murder of Carly Martinez," Susana Martinez said.
Avalos' version of events as told by Cosby on Thursday is different
from the account he initially gave police. It also is the first time
Avalos' version of events has been told in public.
Avalos first told investigators that the two men dropped Martinez
off at a pay phone near the NMSU campus on the night of Jan. 14, 1998.
He said Desnoyers then dropped him off but showed up hours later,
covered with blood and asking for help to cover up the crime.
But Cosby told jurors that Avalos didn't tell police the whole
truth when first questioned about Martinez's disappearance because, with
his criminal record, "he doesn't trust the police, he doesn't talk to
the police and he doesn't believe they are going to believe him."
Avalos was convicted in 1991 when he tried to embezzle a car from
the owner who had entrusted it with him. Between 1991 and 1996, he was
connected to at least four other criminal cases.
Cosby also said his client feared Desnoyers -- a sentiment that
mirrored Desnoyers' testimony about Avalos.
Cosby said Martinez and Avalos had "gotten to know each other very
generally" at the NMSU computer lab and through e-mail. Avalos, who was
not an NMSU student, had asked Martinez out several times and even joked
in one e-mail that "I'm not an ax murderer," Cosby said.
The two ran into each other, and Avalos invited her out to a local
roller rink on the evening she disappeared. She accepted the invitation,
and Avalos thought "he was going to get lucky," Cosby said.
Avalos picked Martinez up around 6 p.m. and took her to the roller
rink where he ran into Desnoyers. The three eventually agreed to go to
several local nightspots and wound up in the mesa west of Las Cruces,
Cosby said.
He said Martinez made it clear to Avalos then that she was not
going to have sex with him but was spending a lot of time with
Desnoyers. So Avalos decided to give the two some time alone and fell
asleep in Desnoyers' truck, Cosby said.
After some time had passed and Avalos felt the truck shake
slightly, he got out to see where the two had gone.
"Jesse Avalos got out of the truck and saw Mr. Desnoyers without
his shirt on and Carly Martinez dead," Cosby said.
Cosby and co-counsel Monica Baca say they intend to show that
Avalos couldn't have committed such a premeditated crime because he was
seen with Martinez in several public places the night she disappeared
and helped investigators find her personal belongings and body in the
months that followed.
The prosecutors' case tells a different story, that Avalos took
steps to cover up the crime and told police multiple stories in an
effort to shift the guilt and avoid being charged.