Three slain children's kin paid to enter U.S.

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BALTIMORE -- The families of three slain Mexican children and the relatives accused of the killings paid human traffickers, or "coyotes," to smuggle them into the country, a Baltimore police detective testified yesterday.

"Something was paid, but to whom and how much, I don't know," said Detective Irvin Bradley, the lead investigator in the case.

The testimony fit a defense theory that family members involved in the smuggling, not the defendants, killed Lucero Solis Quezada, 8, her brother Ricardo Solis Quezada Jr., 9, and their 10-year-old cousin Alexis Espejo Quezada to "send a message" about not paying the fee.

The children were beaten with an aluminum baseball bat and nearly decapitated with a boning knife in their Northwest Baltimore apartment in May 2004.

The children's cousin Adan Canela, 18, and their uncle Policarpio Espinoza Perez, 23, are on trial on first-degree murder charges in Baltimore Circuit Court. They face life in prison if convicted.

The defendants, the victims and their immediate families were illegal aliens from Mexico at the time of the killings. Family members have received special visas for the trial, which could last a month.

The victims' families have defended their kin accused of the killings, and Detective Bradley testified Monday that family members had been "reluctant" to cooperate with investigators.

None of the family members speaks English, which apparently hampered the homicide investigation because suspects and witnesses had to be questioned through an interpreter. The language barrier has slowed the trial as well, when family members had to testify through court interpreters.

James L. Rhodes, lead attorney for Mr. Canela, suggested in his opening statement Friday that the culprit is his client's father, Victor Espinoza Perez, to whom relatives owed at least $2,500 for the illegal entry into the United States. The theory was one of several alternative explanations for the crime presented by the defense attorneys.

Prosecutors have not offered a motive in the slayings but say DNA evidence, including the children's blood found on the defendants' pants and shoes, will prove that they are the "cold-blooded killers."

Assistant State's Attorney Sharon R. Holback said in her opening statement that the defendants conspired with each other and "persons unknown" to kill the children.

Detective Bradley said yesterday that investigators determined that Victor Espinoza Perez left work between 2 and 3 p.m. the day of the killing, although he told police he left between 4 and 5 p.m. The children were killed between 4 and 5 p.m.

The detective said he became suspicious of Victor Espinoza Perez the day of the killing, when family members would glance at him before answering questions.

Prosecutors earlier had called Victor Espinoza Perez as one of their first witnesses. They used his testimony to explain the family relationships and demonstrate the family's adversarial relationship with the state's attorney's office. The prosecutors have yet to explain to the jury how, if ever, police ruled him out as a suspect.

Yesterday, Mr. Rhodes asked Detective Bradley about the police interview of Mr. Canela's brother, Juan Carlos Canela, who told investigators that their father charged $2,500 to sneak Mexicans into the United States.

However, Assistant State's Attorney Tony N. Garcia objected, and the detective did not have to answer.

The cross-examination of Detective Bradley lasted most of the day, as Mr. Rhodes and Timothy M. Dixon, lead attorney for Policarpio Espinoza Perez, tried to show deficiencies in the police investigation.

The defense attorneys highlighted a fingerprint found in blood on a window sill in the apartment and a footprint in the mud outside, neither of which could be matched to the defendants.

Detective Bradley said that the fingerprint was of insufficient quality to make a match and that the shoe print was not aggressively pursued as evidence. The detective often appeared forgetful and frequently had to page through several binders of records to answer questions.