Other beating may have killed man, coroner says

Saturday, Oct. 11, 1997 | 2:04 a.m.

The medical examiner said Friday at a court hearing for the suspects that Refugio Miramontes died from an infection caused by a head injury that did not appear to be caused by a bottle.

Police found the man's body Sept. 22 in a vacant apartment a few blocks from the Stratosphere Tower. Jose S. Lopez, 14, and Adrian Garcia, 16, are charged with murder in connection with his death.

But following testimony and arguments by defense attorneys at the Justice Court preliminary hearing, Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo reduced their bail to $5,000 each, an unusually low amount considering the severity of the charge.

At Friday's hearing, Las Vegas police Detective Roy Chandler testified that Lopez admitted hitting Miramontes in the head with an empty bottle.

Chandler said Lopez did so because Miramontes, whom Lopez dubbed a "crackhead," had been making fun of Garcia's mother. Chandler also testified that Lopez told him he swung at Miramontes as the older man was attempting to hit him.

The detective said the teen claimed he saw Miramontes a day after the fight, that Miramontes appeared fine and they patched up their difference.

Chandler said Lopez said that, a few days later, he ducked into an empty apartment to avoid being caught after curfew. Lopez claimed to have smelled Miramontes' rotting body in the apartment.

Defense attorney Jose Pallares and Special Public Defender Michael Cherry asked Abbatangelo to suppress statements their clients made to police implicating themselves as having been in a fight with Miramontes.

Cherry argued the statements should be thrown out because they were elicited from juveniles outside the presence of their parents.

Abbatangelo will decide the issue Oct. 28.

Another teen-ager, who also lived at the Fun City Motel and was arrested at the same time, is being held on an unrelated murder charge. Police allege Jeffrey Davis, 15, shot Robert Morales to death in a Carl's Jr. restaurant. Police said Lopez and Garcia were with Davis at the time.