Attorney: Killings protected family

Angela Soo

Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2001 | 8:53 a.m.

Gustavo Cumplido never meant to kill anyone. He was trying to protect his family from gang members, Cumplido's defense attorney told jurors during his murder trial Monday.

"His two daughters used to play out front until his family came under attack by gang members," defense attorney Robert Draskovich said.

Cumplido went on trial Monday for two slayings for which he has already served a year in prison. He was granted the trial before District Judge Lee Gates after his guilty plea on second-degree murder charges was thrown out last year.

Cumplido, 38, is accused of killing Eloy Numez, 17, and Carlos Lopez, 20, in a 1999 shooting that also involved Cumplido's two sons, Matthew Cumplido and Peter Cumplido, who were 17 and 15 at the time.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens told jurors that on Feb. 20, 1999, the Cumplidos piled into a truck with two family friends, Christian and Byron Angulo, after a shot was fired outside the Cumplido home. The five men pursued a car from which they believed the shot was fired. The chase ended near Pecos and Bonanza roads.

Gustavo Cumplido retrieved a 12-gauge shotgun from the back of the pickup and killed two of three men he believed had fired shots at his house, Owens said.

The shooting was in self-defense after a month's worth of threats and vandalism the Cumplido family endured, Draskovich said.

But, Owens countered, Gustavo Cumplido told police in a recorded statement something else.

"He told police 'When we reached Pecos, you know, I told them to pull up to the side so I could shoot,' " Owens told the jury.

Cumplido is charged with two counts of murder with use of a deadly weapon, one count of attempted murder and two counts of illegal use of a firearm.

Gustavo had already served more than one year of a 20-year sentence when he asked Gates last year if he could back out of the 1999 plea agreement.

Matthew Cumplido pleaded guilty in May 1999 to assault with a deadly weapon, and charges against the other three men were either dismissed or never pursued, Owens said.