THE prosecution and defense lawyers completed on Friday their closing arguments in the trial of Sidney Tenorio Camacho and his cousin, Alex Agulto Camacho, over the murder of Bernardo M. Tique, who was security guard at Nikko Hotel.
Assistant Attorney General Barry Hirshbein said the prosecution had met its burden in proving beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants committed second degree murder and aggravated assault and battery against the victim.
But defense lawyers G. Anthony Long and Joey Arriola said their clients were innocent of the charges and that it was a mistaken identity case.
Tomorrow, the jurors are expected to start deliberating after Associate Judge David Wiseman finishes reading the instructions to the jury.
Long reminded the jury that the prosecution was not convinced that Alex Camacho was one of two persons who attacked Tique.
Long said the prosecution’s uncertainty in the case could be the reason why they charged his client with second degree murder then aggravated assault and battery.
Long said there was no evidence that Alex Camacho punched and stomped Tique.
Long said somebody else beat up Tique. He mentioned that the victim and Christopher Camacho had a “fight history.”
He also cited a testimony of a government witness who stated that Tique was struck from behind by Alex Camacho, but the victim apparently ended up getting hit on the face.
“There is doubt when it comes to Alex Camacho. You’ve got to be beyond reasonable doubt,” Long said.
Hirshbein said the defense tried to confuse the jurors with minor things that were not related to the case.
The prosecutor asked the jurors to remember that Raynaldo Llamzon, then security supervisor at Nikko, knew Jeffrey Tenorio and Chris Camacho because they were co-workers.
Hirshbein said Long was trying to suggest it was a mistaken identity, “which is not true, not right and not accurate.”
Hirshbein said the prosecution did not call the police officers on the witness stand because there was no evidence that any police officers had knowledge of the beating.
The doctors are the best evidence in the case, he said.
Hirshbein said the defense was trying to confuse the issue.
“Mistaken identity is not an issue in this case,” he said, adding that aggravated assault and battery was first inflicted on the victim. Tique then died “so it becomes a murder.”
A forensic pathologist had testified that Tique’s injuries on the upper lip and head were consistent with blunt object or stomping.
Tique sustained laceration on the right upper lip, fracture to the back of skull, smaller contusions at the base of the brain, and swelling and bleeding of the brain, according to the pathologist.
Another doctor testified how they treated the security guard from Dec. 3, 1996 until he died eight days later. The doctor said the factors contributing to the victim’s death were damage to the brain, pneumonia, and diabetes.
Llamson told the court he saw the defendants beat up Tique at the hotel’s swimming pool area on Dec. 1, 1996. The suspects got upset when Tique asked them to leave the pool because swimming was not allowed at the time.
