Crime Time

Tattoos may tell tale of accused killer's desire to 'live now, die later'

UPDATE: 4:25 p.m.

Fort Worth crime scene investigators are telling jurors about the items - including the murder weapon - seized from the car that accused killer Mark Anthony Soliz was riding in when he was arrested.

Crime scene investigator Timothy Lee testified in Soliz's capital murder trial that he found the 9mm handgun later linked to the crime and took two fingerprints off the packaging of a label maker found in the car.

The long string of items seized sent Prosecutor Christy Jack digging for large Ziploc bags to hold the items once Uckle took them out of their sealed packaging during testimony.

Jack has joined Johnson County Assistant District Attorneys Martin Strahan and Larry Chambless in prosecuting the case.

Defense attorneys have suggested during questioning that the ringleader of the 2010 crime spree was co-defendant Jose "Joe" Ramos, who is awaiting trial.

Soliz is facing capital murder in the death of Nancy Weatherly, 61, of Godley. He is awaiting trial in Tarrant County in the death of beer deliveryman Ruben Martinez.

Ramos is also awaiting trial for capital murder in those deaths.

If convicted, Soliz is facing the death penalty. Prosecutors say they have not decided whether to seek the death penalty against Ramos.

-Dianna Hunt 

UPDATE: 12:20 p.m.

CLEBURNE - Tattoos may tell the story of accused gunman Mark Anthony Soliz, who is standing trial on capital murder charges in the shooting death of a Godley woman.

A large tattoo on his upper arm depicts the comedy-tragedy mask and the words, "Live Now. Die Later." It mixes with the gang symbols and teardrops scattered across Soliz's body.

Photos of those tattoos were presented to jurors Tuesday, to show Soliz's involvement with a northside gang known as Varrio North Side. The VNS reference is an Anglicized variation on the Spanish word, barrio, which means neighborhood, and is used by a northside gang, former gang officer Jesus Alaniz testified Tuesday.

Co-defendant Jose "Joe" Ramos is also affiliated with a gang known as Puro Tango Blast, Alaniz testified.

The two are charged with capital murder in an 8-day crime spree that stretched from Fort Worth to Johnson County and left two people dead. Soliz is standing trial in state District Judge Bill Bosworth's court in Johnson County in Weatherly's death, and is awaiting trial in Tarrant County in the death of a beer deliveryman.

He could get the death penalty if convicted.

Ramos is also facing capital murder charges in both cases, but prosecutors have said they have not decided whether to seek the death penalty against him. 

Testimony is expected to resume after a lunch break, about 1:15 p.m.

-Dianna Hunt

UPDATE: 10:40 a.m

Accused killers Mark Anthony Soliz and Jose "Joe" Ramos were known gang member on Fort Worth's northside, a former Fort Worth gang officer told jurors Tuesday.

Detective Jesus Alaniz, who has since been promoted to criminal investigations, told jurors that Soliz - known as "Kilo" - and Ramos were suspected of being involved in a string of Fort Worth armed robberies when they finally were arrested in June 2010.

Alaniz said Soliz was known to be in the VNS gang - Vario North Side - and the Texas Syndicate prison gang. Ramos also was known to be in a prison gang.

Alaniz testified as prosecutors laid out a crime spree that stretched over 8 days, starting with a home burglary that netted the murder weapon and continuing through the death of Nancy Weatherly of Godley on June 29, 2010.

The judge is now considering whether to allow prosecutors to be able to force Alaniz to display his gang tattoos.

-Dianna Hunt

 

CLEBURNE - A juror with a toothache briefly delayed the start of testimony Tuesday in the capital murder trial of Mark Anthony Soliz, accused of killing a Godley woman in Johnson County and a Fort Worth man in a five-day crime spree.

State District Judge Bill Bosworth told attorneys about 9 a.m. that a juror had alerted him that she had dental surgery on Feb 23, and had been seen by her dentist in Crowley on Monday evening for "pain and discomfort."

She is also set to have her sutures removed on Wednesday, the judge said.

Prosecutor Christy Jack asked the judge to question the woman about whether her pain was making it difficult to continue hearing the case. Defense attorneys Mike Heiskell and Greg Westfall urged the court "not to make it more than it is."

After brief consultation with the woman privately, the judge said she was able to continue and would agree to have her sutures removed by a Cleburne dentist during the lunch break on Friday.

Soliz is standing trial on a capital murder charge in the death of Nancy Weatherly, 61, who was shot during a burglary of her rural home in Godley.

Soliz and another man, Jose "Joe" Ramos, are accused of killing Weatherly during a spree that stretched across two counties in 2010. Tarrant prosecutors are assisting the Johnson County district attorney's office.

Soliz and Ramos are also facing capital murder charges in Tarrant County as well in the death of beer deliveryman Ruben Martinez.

Testimony resumed Tuesday morning with a Fort Worth police investigator.

-Dianna Hunt

 

Officials: Pot growers ignited fire that put 88,650 acres up in smoke

Authorities in Santa Barbara County, Calif., say that they believe a massive wildfire burning there was started by marijuana growers possibly with ties to Mexican drug cartels.

The 88,650-acre blaze began on Aug. 8 and has burned more than 137 square miles of terrain.

Officials said that roughly 30,000 marijuana plants and an AK-47 assault rifle were discovered in the vicinity of where the fire started in a remote canyon of the Los Padres National Forest.

-- Lance Murray

Flight crew duct tapes unruly woman to her seat

We all know that duct tape is one of the greatest inventions ever.

There are Web sites dedicated to its dozens of uses.

Add airline security to the list after a United Airlines crew had to duct tape a woman to her seat after they said she became unruly. Among the things the crew accused the woman of doing were slapping a flight attendant's behind, falling on a the head of a blind passenger and then pulling that passenger's hair.

It appears the woman had a few too many drinks, according to reports.

She was taken into custody and faces charges of resisting arrest and interfering with the operations of a flight crew.

-- Lance Murray

Combative drunk women battle flight attendants over booze

Most of us have had a drink or two on a long flight. You know, break the tension. Relax.

But two British women apparently had at least one too many.

Police in Berlin say that the two unidentified British women went on a drunken rampage aboard a commercial airline flight, hit one flight attendant with a bottle of vodka and then tried to open a door in flight -- all at 32,800 feet over Austria. The pilot make an emergency landing in Frankfurt, where the women were taken into custody.

What precipitated such behavior? A flight attendant wouldn't serve them more booze because they were visibly intoxicated. (Go ahead, slap your forehead in disbelief!)

Police say they may be charged with attempted assault and interfering with air traffic.

-- Lance Murray

Feds: Upset flight attendant starts fire in plane's bathroom

Being upset with your work assignment is one thing, but federal authorities say a flight attendant took it to a whole new level and endangered the passengers and crew of a commercial airliner in expressing his displeasure.

Federal authorities have arrested the flight attendant, identified as 19-year-old Eder Rojas, who they said started a fire in an in-flight bathroom because he was angry over his assigned route. He's charged with setting fire aboard a civil aircraft, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Authorities said the Compass Airlines flight flying from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan, with 72 passengers and four crew members on board landed safely in Fargo, N.D., on May 7 after smoke filled the back of the airplane.

No one was injured, according to the reports.

Rojas is being held without bail.

-- Lance Murray