Jury deals severe blow to Astorga defense team

Michael Astroga

From KOB-TV.com - By: Stuart Dyson, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - The jury considering the death penalty for convicted cop-killer Michael Astorga now seems to be back on track - after appearing to be hopelessly deadlocked just 24 hours ago. Tuesday morning, the jury found Astorga guilty of four aggravating circumstances in the killing of Bernalillo County Sheriff's Deputy James McGrane during a traffic stop in Tijeras in March 2006. That clears the way now for the jury to decide whether Astorga should die by lethal injection or serve a life sentence in prison. The jury in the Santa Fe death penalty trial agreed that Astorga intentionally shot McGrane, and that McGrane was an on-duty police officer when he was killed. That makes it a death penalty case, and that pleases McGrane's mother and father, who have attended every day of the trial. Two years ago, an earlier jury convicted Astorga of the McGrane murder, but in a highly unusual move the State Supreme Court ruled that a second jury would determine if he gets the death penalty.  The court also ruled that the second jury could consider whether Astorga was guilty or innocent. All along, his defense has been that he is the wrong man, railroaded into a conviction for a murder he did not commit. The jury's decision on the aggravating factors dealt a severe blow to Astorga's defense team, which was hoping the jury couldn't agree. That would have meant an automatic life sentence and no death penalty. On Wednesday, the defense will call witnesses to testify against the death penalty and the prosecution will call witnesses who will explain why they think it is necessary. Lawyers spent a good part of Tuesday afternoon battling over which witnesses should testify and which should be excluded. Read more

Jury deals severe blow to Astorga defense team