Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Jurors hear of a gentler Arrizon

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Thursday, April 26, 2001
Jurors hear of a gentler Arrizon
But prosecutors say he already had a violent past
By Dan Parker
Caller-Times

Arrizon

Just a few years ago, in California, Adrian Lee Arrizon was a LULAC youth organization president, a person who fed the homeless and member of a police youth group, according to witnesses who testified Wednesday on the convicted capital murderer's behalf.
   The witnesses' testimony was an attempt by defense attorneys to spare Arrizon's life now that the jury has found him guilty of shooting and killing two Corpus Christi teen-agers last summer. Defense attorneys said jurors should sentence Arrizon to life in prison, partly because executing him would mirror the revenge killings for which Arrizon was convicted.
   But prosecutors said Arrizon should be sentenced to death because he shot and killed Robert Lopez, 18, and Alma Bazan, 15, without remorse and likely will kill again if given a chance.
   Jurors today are scheduled to continue deliberating whether Arrizon, 20, should be sentenced to life or death - the only two legal choices in the case. Jurors deliberated about 90 minutes Wednesday before going home for the day.
   Arrizon was convicted of capital murder Tuesday for the July 12, 2000, shooting at Reynosa and Belton streets, which police described as a gang-related ambush.
   On Wednesday, defense attorney Virginia Burt called witnesses who said Arrizon was a kind and community-minded teen-ager when he lived in California a few years ago.
   Berna Maya, Arrizon's aunt, testified that Arrizon was president of a youth chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens in Salinas, Calif. Maya said Arrizon did a lot of community work and that a Salinas LULAC group named Arrizon young man of the year in 1995.
   Maya said Arrizon graduated from an Explorers program run by the Monterey County (Calif.) Sheriff's Department. The group got involved in gang violence prevention, helped provide security for large events and undertook other missions, she said.
   Burt presented a newspaper clipping with a photo showing Arrizon and his mother, Norma Maya, passing out food to the homeless on Thanksgiving in California.
   Norma Maya said she and her son moved to Texas a few years ago because she married a Texas man. Norma Maya took up residence in Banquete and worked as a drill instructor at Nueces County's boot camp for juvenile offenders.
   Arrizon was lured into Corpus Christi gang life by Abel Vela, who has pleaded guilty to a murder charge in the July 12 shootings, said defense attorney Mark Woerner. Vela is expected to get a 20-year sentence in the plea bargain.
   Joseph Vellone, a California archbishop of the North American Old Roman Catholic Church, testified that he knew Arrizon when he lived in California. The boy was spiritually motivated and didn't appear to be involved in gangs, Vellone said.
   "My role is to plead for a life," Vellone said. "It's just too precious, this existence, too precious a background to have lost for society. The horrendous things he's accused of are so completely out of character."
   But prosecutor James Sales suggested Arrizon was put on probation for stealing from a mall store when he lived in California. Sales also suggested Arrizon was disciplined for fighting in school.
   Arrizon fired several shots at a Corpus Christi home prior to the July 12 killings, Sales said. No one was hurt, but the incident is part of a pattern that shows Arrizon poses a continuing threat of violence to the community, Sales said.
   Burt said executing Arrizon for the killing would be a form of vengeance not much different from the slayings of Lopez and Bazan. Police said gangster revenge was the motive behind the shooting."When does this cycle of violence end?'' she asked the jury. "Maybe you can start by sending a message of life ... how precious it is, how it is to be revered."
   But Sales told jurors to think of Bazan and how she dreamed of someday becoming a pediatrician.
   "She had some dreams she'll never be able to fulfill," he said. "She'll never be able to fulfill them because of Adrian Arrizon."


Contact Dan Parker at 886-3618 or parkerd@caller.com

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