A man on trial for the drug-related shooting death of a high school student was found guilty of first-degree murder and armed robbery on Friday.
Jamonte Olague was on trial in Pima County Superior Court for the 2011 shooting death of 17-year-old Carlos Sandoval.
Sandoval was shot and killed in a botched drug ripoff at a home in Forty-Niner Country Club on Tucson’s far northeast side.
Defense attorney Suzanne Crawford argued her client was complicit in the plans to commit a drug ripoff but never knew, or intended for, the deal to turn deadly.
“Whatever it ended up being wasn’t Jamonte’s intent,” Crawford said in closing arguments on Friday.
Olague, 21, and accomplices, including Keanu Deano Castaneda, had arranged to buy a pound of high-grade marijuana from Sandoval.
At the meeting, Castaneda and Olague attempted to grab the backpack from Sandoval. When Sandoval resisted, Castaneda pulled out a gun and fired, killing him.
“I’m not saying Jamonte is an angel,” Crawford said, telling jurors her client had known they would steal the drugs from Sandoval but not that Castaneda had brought a gun.
“This kid has a propensity for violence,” Crawford said of Castaneda, who earlier this year was convicted of Sandoval’s killing. “He has no regard for life.”
Deputy Pima County Attorney Faten Barakat-Nice told jurors Olague was as guilty of murder as Castaneda because he helped plan the drug deal and robbery that turned fatal. “You don’t have to find that it was part of the plan to murder someone,” Barakat-Nice told jurors.
She reminded the jury that Olague is accused of felony murder — a murder committed in furtherance of a felony — and not premeditated murder.
Stressing that Olague knew Castaneda was armed, Barakat-Nice played video clips from police interviews with Olague where he tells detectives Castaneda was known to always carry a gun.
The video also shows Olague describing the incident to police. He tells detectives how he and Castaneda grabbed the backpack from Sandoval, but as they struggled over it Olague warned Sandoval that he might get shot.
“Carlos, just give up the weed,” were his words to Sandoval, Olague told the deputies. “Don’t get shot.”
Olague also told police he came to the deal armed with a BB gun that looked like a real handgun.
Barakat-Nice told jurors Olague’s actions proved him guilty of murder. “In the furtherance of that armed robbery, Carlos Sandoval died,” she said.
Tucsonan found guilty fatal marijuana deal
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