Man enters insanity plea in fatal 2008 shooting

By Cara McCoy (contact)

Friday, Nov. 20, 2009 | 2:01 p.m.

Metro Police

Ruben Arroyo

A man charged with fatally shooting another man he accused of sleeping with his wife and sexually assaulting his 6-week-old baby pleaded not guilty today to murder by reason of insanity.

Ruben Arroyo, 30, appeared in court today and his attorney, Scott Coffee, told District Court Judge Linda Bell he was planning to pursue an insanity defense. Arroyo is charged with murder with use of a deadly weapon in the Oct. 17, 2008, fatal shooting of Julio Ceasar Gonzalez-Hernandez at an apartment complex in the 3600 block of East Sahara Avenue.

Gonzalez-Hernandez, 21, died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. His death was ruled a homicide.

Arroyo was arrested later that day in Mesquite without incident.

At the time of his arrest, he told the Mesquite Police officer that a person named Gonzalez had been sleeping with his wife and had sexually assaulted his 6-week-old baby girl, court records indicate.

While waiting for Metro Police to respond to Mesquite, Arroyo asked the arresting officer if it was wrong or bad to do something bad to someone who has done something bad to you, a report says.

A .380-caliber semiautomatic revolver was found inside Arroyo’s truck after his arrest. That gun was later linked to Gonzalez-Hernandez’s shooting.

Arroyo’s wife told authorities her husband had made a variety of unfounded and implausible accusations against her, including the allegation of her relationship with Gonzalez-Hernandez and Gonzalez-Hernandez's alleged assault of her infant. Arroyo’s allegations and behavior prompted her to separate from him, she said.

About four weeks before the shooting, Arroyo filed a police report about the alleged abuse of his baby, which he said happened at a Mexican restaurant, and had the child examined by paramedics and at a hospital.

His wife said she had never been to the restaurant, either alone or with her infant. She had also never been there with Gonzalez-Hernandez, she said. She denied any relationship with Gonzalez-Hernandez or any other man.

She said after she became pregnant, her husband began to imagine things and it seemed to get worse as time went on, she told authorities.

Arroyo is also facing charges of attempted murder and battery, both with a deadly weapon, in connection with a separate incident in which he allegedly shot a man on Sept. 20, 2008.

Arroyo is set to stand trial on the murder case on Aug. 16, 2010. He remains in the Clark County Detention Center without bond.