Judge delays ruling in slaying

Monday, March 21, 2005 | 9:45 a.m.

With no witnesses able to say a 25-year-old Californian accused of killing a 51-year-old Las Vegas woman on Thanksgiving Day shot a gun or had a motive, Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Nancy Oesterle decided Friday to fully review the case before issuing a ruling.

Oesterle has said she would review the testimony and her notes and expects to decide on March 28 whether enough evidence exists for Susan Aguilar of Fontana, Calif., to stand trial for the killing of Guadalupe Hernandez during a family Thanksgiving celebration.

The second day of Aguilar's preliminary hearing featured testimony from her ex-boyfriend and Hernandez's son, Francisco "Frank" Hernandez.

Hernandez said he had just gotten out of prison and decided to come to Las Vegas with Aguilar to both celebrate his birthday and Thanksgiving with his family at his sister's home.

He said he was sitting in Aguilar's car at the party listening to music when he suddenly heard screaming.

"I was wondering what was going on, I stepped into the garage and saw her (his mother, Guadalupe Hernandez) lying on the ground."

Hernandez, who served prison time on weapons charges in California and for evading the police, said he initially believed his mother had a stroke or a heart attack, but then he turned around and saw Aguilar driving away.

"She (Aguilar) was trying to leave, but I was trying to stop her and see why she was leaving," Hernandez said. "I opened the door and got in the vehicle."

He said Aguilar had a 38-caliber handgun sitting in her lap and she said "it was an accident."

Hernandez said after they drove around the block he wrestled the gun away from Aguilar and got of the car, but she continued driving. He proceeded to fire three shots at her car to try and stop her from leaving.

Hernandez's testimony didn't answer any of the questions lingering from the first day of the preliminary hearing, but only perpetuated them.

Previously two witnesses testified Aguilar was at the scene of the crime and fled after the killing, but neither saw her shoot nor possess a gun.

Guadalupe Hernandez's husband, Jorge Hernandez, testified he heard gun shots "but didn't see who fired it."

He said roughly two minutes later his son came into the garage holding in his hand the gun he believed Aguilar had used on his mother, saying "she's dead, she's dead."

Jorge Hernandez said his son then walked out of the garage toward the street and started firing at the car in which Aguilar was driving away.

At her preliminary hearing on Friday, Guadalupe Hernandez's husband of 31 years, Jorge Hernandez, said he was fixing his daughter's van in the garage when his wife and Aguilar came through the garage to get a glass of water. Leo Salisbury, whose brother is married to Jorge Hernandez's daughter, said he was playing darts in the garage with his friend, Adam Par, and noticed Aguilar "looking at everyone with a weird face, trying to pick someone out and sort of observing everyone carefully." Although Salisbury heard the gun go off and saw Guadalupe Hernandez die as a result of the bullet, he said he "didn't see anyone with a gun." Aguilar's attorney, Chief Deputy Public Defender Curtis Brown, said in "all of the evidence that's been presented nothing has established a homicide took place." "Nobody saw the shooting or a gun in her (Aguilar's) hand, they just he ard a shot and saw Guadalupe (Hernandez) lying on the floor." Prosecutors argued Aguilar was guilty of a homicide because she was within arm's reach of the victim at the time of the shooting, she fled the scene and Francisco Hernandez said he saw her with a gun. Oesterle was not swayed fully by either argument on Friday and has exercised her right to review the testimony and evidence and issue her ruling on March 28.