Death Row inmate Michael Dean “Spider” Gonzales made a short appearance in Ector County District Court Tuesday to discuss an upcoming evidentiary hearing he hopes will ultimately save his life.
Gonzales’s attorney, Richard Burr, provided Judge John Shrode of the 161st District Court, a summary of what he intends to prove during a hearing ordered by the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals and Travis Bragg, who represents the state, offered brief counterpoints.
Shrode said he intends to schedule a week-long hearing for the end of September.
Gonzales, 49, is on death row for stabbing Manuel and Merced Aguirre to death during a robbery at their home in April 1994.
He had been scheduled to be executed in March 2022, but the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals granted Gonzales a stay.
Burr contends Gonzales’ IQ doesn’t meet the legal threshold required for execution. The United States does not allow people with IQs 70 or below to be executed if they’re also unable to handle life’s demands and if there was evidence of issues before the age of 18.
On Tuesday, Shrode agreed to allow Burr to call expert and lay witnesses to the stand in September to testify about Gonzales’ IQ. The lay witnesses are the only ones who can testify about Gonzales’ “adaptive behavior” or skills he used to meet the demands of everyday living.
Burr also contends prosecutors hid things about now retired Odessa Police Department Detective Snow Robertson, the lead detective on the case.
The defense attorney told Shrode Tuesday that Robertson had a reputation for cutting corners, abusing witnesses, falsifying confessions and “covering his tracks.”
Burr believes Robertson had a hand in the “confession” Gonzales made to a detention officer.
In addition, Burr said Robertson testified he was “absolutely sure” a substance found on a camper in between Gonzales’ house and the Aguirres’ house was blood, but his case notes indicate he wasn’t sure.
In addition, Burr said Robertson testified an expert witness from A&M said peppers found in the victims’ home and Gonzales’ home were rare, but case notes don’t reflect anything of the sort.
If jurors had known these things about Robertson, it could have shifted their picture of the case and cast doubt on other evidence, Burr said.
Bragg said Robertson testified the stain “could” be blood and he also testified it would best be left to an expert to determine if the peppers were rare for Texas. He also noted the case notes Burr referred to regarding the peppers was written by an employee of the district attorney’s office and is therefore inadmissible because it is “hearsay within hearsay.”
Moreover, Bragg said Gonzales’ original defense attorney knew about the A&M expert and could easily have called him to testify at the trial.
As far as Robertson’s reputation, Bragg said some of the records were available at the time of the trial and could’ve been used then to impeach the detective. Some of the other records weren’t available, but are inadmissible anyway, he said.
For example, Bragg said the courts have ruled civil lawsuits and allegations cited in the appellate briefs of other defendants can’t be used to commit “character assassination.”
Bragg argued the “evidence” Burr wants to present can’t overcome Gonzales’ confession to the crime or the fact items stolen from the Aguirres were linked to him.
On April 22, 1994, Manuel Aguirre Jr. found his 73-year-old father and his 65-year-old mother stabbed to death in their home in South Odessa. Manuel Sr., who was recovering from quintuple bypass surgery, was found in his easy chair suffering from 11 stab wounds. Merced Aguirre was found in the kitchen suffering from so many wounds a medical examiner was unable to specify the number.
Gonzales immediately became a suspect because he was the Aguirres’ next-door neighbor and the Aguirres suspected him of earlier break-ins. They’d expressed fear of the known gang leader.
Gonzales and three members of his gang were questioned by police and Gonzales was arrested on May 7, 1994. Authorities said items stolen from the Aguirres’ home were found in the possession of several people who said they’d bought them from Gonzales and his fingerprints were found on them.
The jury convicted Gonzales, who earned his nickname due to two spider tattoos, in December 1995. His conviction was upheld and he was re-sentenced to death in 2009 after his sentence was overturned.
