By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
District Attorney Suzanne West and Del Rio attorney Michael J. Bagley both spoke to a state district court jury about Clarissa Guerra near the end of Guerra’s trial on murder and evidence tampering charges.
Guerra was charged following the March 7, 2021 murder of Del Rioan Sandra De La Cruz.
West had presented the state’s case against Guerra, and since the burden of proof in criminal cases rests with the state, was allowed to address the jury first and last.
Bagley, who represented Guerra, spoke on her behalf.
West told the jury that the work they had done on the trial is one of the most important things a citizen can do and said she appreciated their time and attention.
As she had said in her opening statement, West again told jurors the story of Guerra and De La Cruz was a story of two women with very similar lives.
“But Clarissa Guerra wanted to distinguish herself by ending Sandra De La Cruz’s life. Ambition and status, that’s what Clarissa Guerra was about,” West said.
She showed the jury photos of De La Cruz’s body as it was found in the cemetery and photos taken during the autopsy of De La Cruz’s body.
West said Guerra and Ernesto Olguin, an accomplice, went to the cemetery “ready to take (De La Cruz) out and they did.”
She went over terms and definitions included in the jury charge and spoke about how jurors might think about the testimony of Olguin, who spoke to the jury Friday after pleading guilty to murder and evidence tampering in De La Cruz’s death.
West spoke about the hard work of Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Gina Garcia and her investigative team, calling the investigation “fabulous,” noting that on the morning the murder was discovered, all they had was a dead body with no identification, no vehicle, no murder weapon and no idea of what had happened. By 10 p.m. that night, there were two suspects in custody, West said.
But Garcia and her team didn’t stop there, the district attorney said. They continued interviewing persons and processing evidence they discovered, making connections between Guerra and a number of persons in the county jail.
West said De La Cruz’s onetime boyfriend, who was in jail for assaulting her, wanted De La Cruz “gone.”
Guerra, West said, “wanted to be important,” and when De La Cruz seemed to become a liability, Guerra told several of those men, “I got you.”
West also painted a lurid picture for the jury, saying Guerra, Olguin and De La Cruz had driven to the cemetery, where Olguin said De La Cruz and Guerra had gotten out of the car. It’s not hard to imagine, West said, Guerra ordering De La Cruz onto her knees before fatally shooting her.
West showed jurors a still photo taken from a FaceTime call between Guerra and her sometime boyfriend, Antonio “Pitaya” Elias, who was incarcerated on a federal drug charge. The photo depicts Guerra pointing to herself.
“She telling him, ‘I did this for you. I did this for us’,” West said.
Bagley began his closing statement by also thanking the jury for its time and patience.
He reminded the jury that all persons are presumed innocent until they are convicted.
Bagley said the state attempted to paint Guerra as a habitual liar who repeatedly made inconsistent statements when questioned by law enforcement.
He said the jury must look at the fact that Garcia lied to Guerra on several occasions while interviewing her.
He reminded the jury that there was no physical evidence of his client at the scene of the crime, only a cigarette butt in the car that had reportedly driven De La Cruz to the cemetery, and Bagley pointed out the state’s experts testified they could not say how long the cigarette butt had been in the car.
Olguin, Bagley said, testified only after agreeing to “an advantageous, beneficial deal” with the district attorney’s office.
Bagley reminded the jury that experts had not found any physical evidence to place his client at the scene of the murder.
Bagley again addressed an interview between Garcia and Guerra. At the start of the interview, Garcia had shown Guerra a photo of Guerra’s brother, who had been assaulted in jail.
Bagley told the jury that Guerra was so distraught after seeing the photo that the statements she made afterward could not be considered voluntary.
Bagley asked the jury to find his client not guilty on both counts.
West had another opportunity to address the jury after Bagley.
She told the jury to tell Sandra De La Cruz that they would take care of her.
“Tell Sandra De La Cruz by your guilty verdict, ‘We got you,’” West said.
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