Amaya v. Commonwealth

1

HECTOR ARMANDO GAMEZ AMAYA v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

No. 1141-22-4

Court of Appeals of Virginia

January 23, 2024

From the Circuit Court of Prince William County Angela L. Horan Judge

Daniel Zemel (Richard G. Collins; Collins & Hyman, P.L.C., on brief), for appellant.

Katherine Quinlan Adelfio, Assistant Attorney General (Jason S. Miyares, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Present: Judges Causey, Raphael and Senior Judge Clements Argued by videoconference

MEMORANDUM OPINION ^[*]

JEAN HARRISON CLEMENTS, JUDGE

A jury convicted Hector Armando Gamez Amaya of first-degree murder abduction, stabbing in the commission of a felony, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit abduction, two counts of participating in a criminal street gang, and concealing a dead body. On appeal, Gamez Amaya argues that the trial court should have instructed the jury regarding the danger of convicting him based on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice. Additionally, he argues that the trial court abused its discretion by restricting his cross-examination of a witness and admitting hearsay and certain credibility evidence. We affirm the trial court's judgment.

BACKGROUND

On appeal, we review the evidence "in the 'light most favorable' to the Commonwealth, the prevailing party in the trial court." Hammer v. Commonwealth, 74 Va.App. 225, 231 (2022) (quoting Commonwealth v Cady, 300 Va. 325, 329 (2021)). Doing so requires us to "discard the evidence of the accused in conflict with that of the Commonwealth, and regard as true all the credible evidence favorable to the Commonwealth and all fair inferences to be drawn therefrom." Cady, 300 Va. at 329 (quoting Commonwealth v. Perkins, 295 Va. 323, 324 (2018)).

In August 2017, Miguel Ruiz Carillo was an eighteen year old who attended school in Fairfax County, Virginia, with Jose Vincent-Sosa, Gamez Amaya, and Gamez Amaya's girlfriend, Daniela Bautista. Carillo, Vincent-Sosa, and Gamez Amaya were members of the criminal street gang Mara Salvatrucha-13 ("MS-13").^[1] At trial, a gang expert testified that MS-13 is a transnational criminal organization based in El Salvador comprising hundreds of different "cliques" that function like "team[s]." The three main cliques in northern Virginia are Virginia Locos Salvatrucha, Los Directos, and Chilengeras. Vincent-Sosa was a member of the Virginia Locos Salvatrucha clique; Gamez Amaya and Carillo were members of the Los Directos clique.

According to the expert, MS-13 members must commit murders and other crimes at the direction of the gang's leadership to ascend in rank. The MS-13 leadership "green light[s]"- that is, orders-the killing of MS-13 members for gang rule violations, including "snitch[ing]" to police or testifying against gang members. When the MS-13 leadership issues a "green light," members of various cliques often "work[] together" to execute the order, and "[e]veryone [must] participate" to advance in rank.

On August 3, 2017, Carillo, Bautista, Vincent-Sosa, and fellow MS-13 member Edwin Moreno were smoking marijuana together in the woods by a pond in Fairfax County, when Gamez Amaya arrived. Gamez Amaya became "upset" and repeatedly punched and kicked Carillo before announcing, "[L]ong life to the Mara Salvatrucha." He then led the group to an SUV that Gamez Amaya's friend, Rebecca Acosta-Teos, had parked nearby. When Bautista tried to leave, Gamez Amaya threatened to hurt her family if she refused to follow him. After Gamez Amaya forced Carillo onto the floor behind the driver's seat of the SUV, Acosta-Teos drove the group to a trailer park in Stafford County.

At the trailer park, Gamez Amaya forced Carillo, Moreno, Vincent-Sosa, and Bautista into a shed behind one of the trailers. Gamez Amaya then waited outside. A few minutes later, two unidentified men entered the shed. One man kept watch while the other bound Carillo's hands with bootlaces; the pair then blocked the shed's entrance to prevent his escape.

Meanwhile, Ishmael Hernandez Navarro and Tomas Pino Mejia, members of the Los Directos clique, received orders to kill Carillo from two high-ranking MS-13 leaders, "Angel" and "El Crimen." At Angel's and El Crimen's direction, Hernandez Navarro and Pino Mejia picked up three additional MS-13 members from the Chilengeras clique-Jose Carlos Escobar Salinas, Andreas Turcios Flores, and Marlon Huezo Rivero. The group then drove to the shed where Gamez Amaya was holding Carillo captive.

Hernandez Navarro waited outside in a van with Turcios Flores and Huezo Rivero while Pino Mejia and Escobar Salinas departed in Acosta-Teos's SUV to find a place to murder Carillo. About 90 minutes later, Gamez Amaya removed Carillo from the shed and forced him into the van. The two unidentified men exited the shed and placed a pickaxe and shovel in the van before returning to the shed to watch Bautista, Vincent-Sosa, and Moreno. Hernandez Navarro, Turcios Flores, Huezo Rivero, and Gamez Amaya then transported Carillo in the van to an isolated road in Prince William County where Pino Mejia and Escobar Salinas were waiting.

Pino Mejia and Escobar Salinas led the group into nearby woods. At a clearing, Gamez Amaya and Escobar Salinas spoke on their cell phones. At trial, Hernandez Navarro testified that he and the others were "wait[ing] on the decision [to kill Carillo] from those who were speaking over the phone," although he already knew "what was supposed to happen" to Carillo from his earlier conversations with Angel and El Crimen. After Gamez Amaya and Escobar Salinas ended the calls, Huezo Rivero removed his belt and wrapped it around Carillo's neck while Gamez Amaya repeatedly stabbed Carillo with a knife. Gamez Amaya's cohorts then took turns stabbing Carillo with the knife until they knew he was dead. They continued stabbing Carillo afterward.

Acting on Angel's and El Crimen's orders, Gamez Amaya directed Hernandez Navarro to cut off Carillo's ear before they buried Carillo in a shallow grave. Gamez Amaya crushed Carillo's right knee with a pickaxe and unsuccessfully attempted to sever Carillo's legs and cut his body in half to force it into the grave.

Early the next morning, Gamez Amaya returned to the shed where Bautista, Vincent-Sosa, and Morena had remained. Bautista noticed that Gamez Amaya's clothes were "dirty" and he was carrying Carillo's shoes. Acosta-Teos drove Bautista, Vincent-Sosa, and Moreno back to their homes.

On August 4, 2017, Carillo's mother reported his disappearance to police. On August 22, 2017, detectives found Carillo's decomposing body in the shallow grave. The body was "folded in" on itself; Carillo's right "arm was under [his] body" and his "left arm was by [his] legs." Carillo's left ear was missing.

A medical examiner determined that Carillo died from at least 120 "[s]harp force injuries to [his] head, neck, torso, and extremities," including "9 stab wounds and 1 chop wound" to his abdomen and 30 "[s]harp and crushing force injuries to the extremities." There was also "extensive fracturing" in Carillo's "right tibia" and "right knee area," which was "caused by a heavy, crushing implement." The medical examiner further opined that a shovel or pickaxe likely caused some of the injuries.

Police investigators spoke to "two individuals" who reported they saw Gamez Amaya with Carillo by the pond shortly before his disappearance on August 3, 2017. Detectives searched Bautista's home. When Gamez Amaya learned of the search, he told Bautista that they had to "leave Virginia" and directed Acosta-Teos to drive them to a hotel in New Jersey. Gamez Amaya later allowed Acosta-Teos to drive Bautista back to her home to say "goodbye" to her mother. When Acosta-Teos and Bautista returned to Fairfax County, police arrested them and impounded Acosta-Teos's SUV. Police found a fingernail fragment on the floorboard behind the SUV's driver's seat; subsequent forensic examination determined that the fingernail fragment was Carillo's.

In September 2017, while Bautista, Vincent-Sosa, and Moreno were incarcerated pending trial in Fairfax County for Carillo's abduction, Prince William County detectives interviewed Gamez Amaya at a prison in Georgia where he was being held on unrelated charges. After the interview, Gamez Amaya called his sister and said that he would be extradited to Virginia for "five" charges in Fairfax County related to Carillo's disappearance-including gang participation and "kidnapping"-and that he would be charged with "homicide" in Prince William County.^[2] While discussing his charges with his sister, Gamez Amaya said that Bautista, Vincent-Sosa, and Moreno were "innocent" and they had "nothing to do with it." He claimed that they were "there because of ignorance." When Gamez Amaya's sister urged him to "defend [his] rights" because "[o]ne person" could not have committed all the offenses, Gamez Amaya replied, "I know what I've done. I know I alone did it."

Gamez Amaya's sister continued to challenge his account of the incident, but he insisted, "I did the sin." He claimed that two men had "tried to f-(expletive) me up and I'm not letting any a--hole (expletive) kill me." He further claimed that he "would have been the dead person" if he had not defended himself. Despite his sister's challenge that "they weren't going to kill you . . . . That's a lie," Gamez Amaya maintained, "I know how things went down. That is why I'm telling you."

Police later arrested Hernandez Navarro in Tennessee and extradited him to Virginia on charges of abduction and gang participation in Prince William County. Hernandez Navarro told police that he and other MS-13 members had murdered Carillo. Although he did not initially implicate Gamez Amaya he later admitted that he, Gamez...