After running throu
gh official channels in Jalisco’s criminal justice system, the Reporter has put together a status report on the prosecution of pending criminal cases related to the murders of lakeside expat residents Allan Turnipseed and Christopher Kahr.
Turnipseed case
Lino Gonzalez, press officer for Jalisco’s Procuraduria de Justicia (State Attorney General’s Office), has confirmed local rumors that one of two teenagers accused of killing Allan Turnipseed has been released from the state juvenile detention center. The other boy remains in custody at the facility.
Turnipseed was fatally shot at his Riberas del Pilar home on January 6, 2011 during a home invasion robbery. A substantial amount of cash and an automobile owned by a friend of the victim were stolen from crime scene.A few days later, Chapala police nabbed two adolescents identified as the prime suspects. The 16- and 17-year-old siblings, both U.S. citizens, were known to come from a deeply troubled background before they were brought to the lakeside area by adoptive parents. Local people acquainted with the teens attest to their history of rebellious behavior and delinquency while living here.
According to Gabriel Sanchez, supervisor of Chapala’s Ministerio Publico (MP) district attorney’s office, the elder brother was eventually let off on the homicide charge in an appeal procedure. After serving a sentence on a lesser robbery charge, he has been liberated from formal custody, but presumably remains under official supervision. The Reporter has been unable to ascertain his exact whereabouts. The younger youth is still serving time for the murder.
It should be noted that under penal procedures for minors, provisions on sentencing and confinement are considerably milder than those applied to adult criminals.
Kahr case
Gonzalez and Sanchez revealed that two men implicated in the murder of Stephen Christopher Kahr are still behind bars at the Puente Grande prison while awaiting resolution of a separate criminal case.
Kahr was gunned down in the carport of his Ajijic home on November 29, 2011. Two weeks later, Guadalajara police arrested Alvaro Alfonso Arceo Espíritu of Ajijic and Samuel Alejandro Ramos Padilla along with a third man following a high speed pursuit shoot-out connected to the robbery of a beauty salon. They were captured in possession of three firearms, including a 32-caliber pistol matching ballistic tests related to murder weapon used against Kahr.
Arceo and Ramos reportedly admitted to involvement in a botched attempt to steal Kahr’s automobile that led to his death. The victim’s wife and son were also called in as eyewitnesses to identify them as perpetrators of the crime.
However, authorities are unable to determine exactly when they will face prosecution for the killing. Sanchez explained that while Chapala’s criminal court judge has issued arrest warrants against the men in relation to the homicide, the orders will not be executed until the prior case is fully resolved.
In accordance with normal criminal procedures, once the men are either absolved or finish serving time on the robbery case, they will be detained and remanded to the regional prison to be tried for the murder.