District Court Judge Don Courtney has set the hearing date for a former Estherville restaurant owner who was convicted for his role in the disappearance and death of an area teenager.

Juan Humberto Castillo-Alvarez's attorney, Mike Williams, filed a motion on March 7 asking Courtney to vacate guilty verdicts on charges of second-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony. Castillo-Alvarez wants a new trial.

The prosecuting attorney for the case, Charles Thoman, resisted efforts for a new trial in documents filed March 20. Courtney, on Monday, faxed a scheduling order to consider arguments from the attorneys at the Clay County Courthouse.

The hearing is set for 10 a.m. Friday, April 25, in Spencer. If Courtney denies the defense request for a new trial, that's also when Castillo-Alvarez is scheduled to be sentenced.

Evidence suggests Castillo-Alvarez was the head of a drug ring in Estherville. He fled to his native Mexico soon after the body of a northwest Iowa teenager was discovered in 1997.

The teenager, 15-year-old Gregory Sky Erickson, was shot execution-style by a member of the Los Krazy Boyz, an Estherville gang, over a drug debt owed to Castillo-Alvarez. Erickson also had a role as a confidential informant for area law enforcement agencies.

Castillo-Alvarez wasn't present when Erickson was murdered -- his main enforcer Luis Lua fired the fatal bullet.

Under the direction of Lua, who was 21 at the time, members of the gang assaulted and abducted Erickson in Spencer on June 6, 1997. Erickson's head was covered with a pillow case as Lua and others rendezvoused in Estherville, stopped at Fort Defiance State Park and again near Swan Lake north of Superior.

He was ultimately driven to a rural Jackson County farmhouse less than two miles from the Iowa border. Authorities discovered the crime scene on June 14, 1997. Ten people ranging in age from 16 to 27 were charged with varying roles in "Sky" Erickson's death.

A jury wasn't present for the last defendant to be tried because Castillo-Alvarez waived a jury trial. Attorneys submitted closing arguments to Courtney in writing. Evidence was presented over parts of three days on Sept. 18, 19 and 21.

Courtney found Castillo-Alvarez guilty because the defendant "acted in concert with others and while acting in concert with others he participated in a public offense," referring to the abduction of Erickson.

"Participant Luis Lua in the furtherance of the kidnapping knowingly committed a different crime, the murder of Gregory Sky Erickson," Courtney said in his ruling. "The court concludes that Gregory Sky Erickson's murder was reasonably foreseeable."

Williams, the Assistant Public Defender representing Castillo-Alvarez, argued that Lua was high on methamphetamine and out of control when he tried to collect the drug debt from Erickson. Castillo-Alvarez was a drug dealer, Williams conceded, but could not have anticipated Lua's actions at the farmhouse in Minnesota.

Testimony from Gabriel Utrera Cedillo, a cell mate detained at the Clay County Jail on burglary charges, portrayed Castillo-Alvarez as someone who was more involved in the execution.

"The child was beaten as was ordered, he was killed as was ordered, the weapon was returned, it was hidden in a restaurant, which at the time, he mentioned was his property that he would rent and he would also sell food from there and at the same time drugs," Cedillo testified, through an interpreter.

Cedillo's credibility is part of the foundation for a new trial request. Williams argues that Courtney looked too favorably on the inmate's testimony. He also argues that some of the testimony from co-conspirators was hearsay and should not have been allowed.