A jury sentenced a south Texas man to death on Thursday, four days after convicting him of capital murder for beheading his common law wife's three children in 2003...........He was convicted of killing the children all under the age of four — smothering, stabbing and ultimately decapitating them — in a windowless Brownsville apartment..............
After being flagged down by Rubio's brother, police found the bodies of 3-year-old Julissa Quesada, 14-month-old John E. Rubio and 2-month-old Mary Jane Rubio on March 11, 2003, in the apartment Rubio shared with Camacho...............
A forensic doctor testified Monday that the children of Angela Camacho and John Allen Rubio were healthy with no signs of abuse, injuries or diseases before they were killed by “homicidal violence from a combination of decapitation, stab wounds and asphyxia.”
During the sixth day of testimony in the capital murder case of Rubio, Dr. Marguerite Dewitt testified that she conducted the autopsies on Julissa Quesada, 3, John E. Rubio, 12 months, and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months, in March 2003. Dewitt was the prosecutors’ final witness before they rested their case.
Dewitt recalled receiving two body bags and small cardboard box. She said one body bag contained the bodies and heads of the two girls, the second contained the body of the boy and the cardboard box conatined the boy’s head.
As Dewitt continued her testimony, Assistant District Attorney L.J. Rabb unveiled a large display that included the photos of the bodies and the heads in the way that they were matched for the autopsies.
The autopsies of John and Mary Jane were done on the day after the murder, while the autopsy for Julissa was done the next morning, Dewitt said.
According to Dewitt, each of the children showed signs of asphyxiation, numerous stab wounds to the chest, back and face, as well as the decapitation.
In the case of John, it was hard to count the exact numbers of stab wounds to his chest because they were grouped together and overlapped, Dewitt said. There were more at least eight deep stab wounds that perforated the lungs and other organs, the doctor said. The boy also had 28 punctures or lacerations to the face.
In the case of Mary Jane, she had seven stab wounds on the back, two to the upper chest, one cut on the ear, and three superficial cuts on the chin, Dewitt said.
Because the decapitation of Mary Jane also showed some flaps of skin, Chief Assistant District Attorney Chuck Mattingly asked if that was consistent with Rubio’s videotaped testimony of ripping off the girl’s head after not being able to cut it. Dewitt replied that it was very possible.
In the case of Julissa, Dewitt said she had the most severe signs of strangulation as well as 21 stab wounds across the chest, seven to the face, and some abrasion to the face consistent with being held face down.
The children didn’t show any signs of sexual abuse, Dewitt testified.
After Dewitt concluded her testimony, defense attorney Nat Perez called for an acquittal of Rubio because the prosecution hadn’t proven that the defendant’s mental state was sound at the time of the murder. At the beginning of the trial, Rubio’s attorneys had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and Perez alleged that the prosecution hadn’t proven otherwise.
State District Judge Noe Gonzalez denied the motion.
As the trial continued, Perez called Hilda Barrientos, the defendant’s mother to the stand. Barrientos testified that while she was pregnant with Rubio she consumed approximately a six pack of beer per day.
The mother also testified that as a young child, Rubio was taken to a psychiatrist because he claimed to talk to god.
“He used to hear voices and see things that weren’t there,” Barrientos said. “God was telling him that he was ‘the chosen one.’ He was gonna save the world.”
Barrientos also stated that Rubio’s biological father Gilberto Lopez Trevino, was an abusive husband and would sometimes strike Rubio.
“When he was about 5 or 6 (years-old) his father would give him beer,” she said.
As Rubio got older, he began experimenting with spray paint and with marijuana, Barrientos said. She added that she would get the marijuana for him.
When asked by Perez about Rubio working as a prostitute, Barrientos said she gave him permission to do it.
During cross-examination, Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos asked Barrientos if it was true that she had performed witchcraft on Rubio, like the defendant had voiced in previous statements.
“I don’t do it to my enemies, much less to my own son,” she replied.
Villalobos asked Barrientos about a phone call that allegedly took place shortly after the murders where Rubio supposedly asked her that if police detectives talk to her, to back up his witchcraft story.
Barrientos denied that the conversation took place conversation.
When Villalobos asked if during a recess in the courtroom, she had tried to contact Rubio, she said,“Yes.”
Jurors in the capital murder trial of John Allen Rubio got a glimpse of the past Friday as they reviewed a videotaped statement the accused killer gave police seven years ago.
Charged in the slaying of his common-law wife’s three young children, the Brownsville man has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
The victims’ mother, Angela Camacho, already pleaded guilty to the killings and is serving a life sentence. Rubio is being retried after an appeals court reversed his previous conviction in the case, citing the prosecution’s use of videotaped testimony from Camacho that did not allow for cross-examination. He had been sentenced to death.
Julissa Quesada, 3, John E. Rubio, 14 months, and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months, were smothered, stabbed and mutilated, according to Brownsville police investigators. Rubio, 29, is the biological father of the youngest child, Mary Jane.
His videotaped statement, recorded March 13, 2003, shows a younger version of himself speaking with detectives as he walks them through the events that took place the day of the murders.
“I was chosen to help the world,” he says as he tells detectives he is “The Chosen One.”
“I’m supposed to help them to see. To give their life to Jesus, to be a holy person,” he says.
Rubio talks about witches and demons and how Julissa Quesada, the 3-year-old, had been possessed by the spirit of his dead grandmother.
“Julissa started talking demonized. I asked her who she was,” he says in the recording. “She said, ‘Guela, guela (Grandmother, grandmother).’ She was inside my girl.”
The tape continues with Rubio telling detectives how he choked the 3-year-old at the family’s Brownsville apartment until she seemed to die but that she gasped for air a few seconds later.
“Angela, Angela, help me hold her down while I choke her again,” Rubio is seen recalling on the tape. He then recounts how he told Camacho to bring him a knife.
“I stabbed (Julissa) on the chest a couple of times,” Rubio says in the recording. “She didn’t want to die. I turned her around and started chopping on the back of the neck. … It took a while, like five or 10 minutes. After I took the head, she was still moving.”
In the video, Rubio then recalls killing the other two children, having sex with Camacho and then talking about either disposing of the bodies or turning themselves in to authorities. He says he killed the children because they were possessed but then adds, “I think it was a moment of insanity.”
Jurors were also shown crime scene photos of various rooms of the apartment with bloodstains, including a photo of the bedroom where the headless body of John E. Rubio, the 14-month-old, lay in a stiff pose next to the crib.
The photos were shown during the testimony of Brownsville police detective Samuel Lucio, who recounted his investigation of the scene and of the case.
Lucio stated that during his interviews with Rubio, the suspect repeatedly talked about witches and demons. Rubio did not appear remorseful.
“He was very cooperative,” Lucio said. “He wanted to talk. He talked freely.”
The detective read the statement — taken immediately after the murders and signed by Rubio — in which the accused man claims the children acted possessed and laughed like three witches.
“Everyone makes mistakes; we are not perfect,” Rubio says in the statement.
Jurors also heard testimony from police detective Thomas Clipper, who said that after Rubio was read his rights, the man then said, “I killed the children. What else do you need?”
During cross-examination, defense attorney Nat Perez asked both Lucio and Clipper if they had asked Rubio if he wanted a lawyer. Both said they had read him his rights — and that they had him read his rights — but that they hadn’t specifically asked him if he wanted a lawyer.
Perez asked the detectives if they knew Rubio read at a fourth-grade level. They replied that they knew he was in special education.
“Why is it that after his rights were read to him at least six times or more, only when he is being videotaped does he have a question?” Perez asked.
Following Clipper’s testimony, the jury was dismissed so 370th state District Judge Noe Gonzalez could address an objection to the presentation of autopsy photos. Proceedings continued into the evening while the attorneys and the judge met with forensic Dr. Marguerite DeWitt to determine if the photos were relevant and whether they would have a prejudicial effect on the jury.