Infamous Death Row inmate Michael Dean “Spider” Gonzales will be back in Ector County next month for yet another hearing in his 29-year-old murder case.
Ector County District Court Judge John Shrode ordered the Texas Department of Corrections to bring Gonzales to his courtroom on May 23 so he can be present when his attorney begs for an evidentiary hearing regarding Gonzales’ IQ and retired detective Snow Robertson’s reputation.
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.
Defense attorney Richard 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.
Burr wants to call expert witnesses at a hearing, prosecutors contend Gonzales’ IQ doesn’t fall below 70 and a hearing is unnecessary. They’ll argue their positions next month.
Burr also believes prosecutors hid things about Robertson, the lead detective on the case, from defense attorneys so they couldn’t call his credibility into question at the trial. He alleges Robertson had a “long-standing history of abusing suspects and witnesses, lying in reports, and concocting critical witness statements at the time of Gonzales’ original trial and before his 2009 re-sentencing.”
According to court documents, Burr said not only would Gonzales’ defense attorneys been able to impeach Robertson the stand, but had Robertson’s personnel files been available it would have actually provided evidence supporting their contention that “Gonzales did not confess to the murders and that the police investigation was inherently unreliable.”
Robertson engaged in questionable behavior not only in Odessa, but while he was with the El Paso, Allen and Murphy police departments, Burr contends.
“Gonzales should be permitted to develop the record with evidence of Robertson’s reputation for truthfulness gleaned from these sources and present them at the evidentiary hearing,” Burr wrote in court documents.
Burr is also pursuing other means to get Gonzales off death row. He claims new fingerprint and DNA evidence has been discovered and he’s filed motions asking the appellate court to order new DNA tests.
On Thursday, Burr said via email he is still waiting for the appellate court to rule on a motion to reconsider their decision denying DNA tests. He said he is also trying to get fingerprints from law enforcement agencies of people the defense team believe were involved in the murders. Once obtained, they’ll be compared to 136 latent prints they received in February 2022.
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.
Robertson would later testify the same type of red peppers found scattered around Merced Aguirres’ body were also found in a bowl at Gonzales’ home.
Robertson testified a doctor told him the red chili peppers were very rare for the area, but Burr later found a memo indicating the doctor had said he could not conduct DNA testing on the peppers and he didn’t think he’d be helpful at trial.
Prosecutors contend that doesn’t prove Robertson gave false testimony because the doctor has never said he did not tell Robertson the peppers were very rare.
Prosecutors have also said the other evidence against Gonzales was so overwhelming the peppers weren’t even mentioned during closing statements.
Jurors also heard testimony a knife found at Gonzales’ house was consistent with the victims’ wounds and Gonzales confessed to a detention center officer.
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.
