Appeals Court hears Castillo-Alvarez case

(Photo by Michael Fischer) Juan Humberto Castillo-Alvarez waves to his family before being escorted out of the courtroom by deputies April 25, 2008, at the Clay County Courthouse. Castillo-Alvarez is appealing convictions for his role in the kidnapping and death of Gregory Sky Erickson on June 6, 1997.

The appeals court on Friday heard oral arguments involving Juan Humberto Castillo-Alvarez as part of the 86th Annual Lawyer's Chautauqua in Okoboji.

The panel reviewed a ruling from Judge Don Courtney, who found the former Estherville restaurant owner guilty of second-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony Jan. 25, 2008, at the Palo Alto County Courthouse in Emmetsburg. The guilty verdict came after a Clay County bench trial spanned parts of three days in September 2007.

Courtney was convinced that Castillo-Alvarez ordered the abduction and murder of Estherville teenager Gregory Sky Erickson 12 years ago.

Erickson was involved in drug transactions on behalf of Castillo-Alvarez's gang in December 1996. Police spotted a suspicious vehicle, then seized drugs and cash from Erickson near a car wash in Milford. The lost revenue caused tension within the gang and eventually led to Erickson's disappearance and death on June 6, 1997.

The crime and the conviction were a more than a decade apart because Castillo-Alvarez fled the country as investigators began to piece together the gang's involvement in the murder.

Federal investigators monitored the whereabouts of Castillo-Alvarez through contact with Mexican authorities. Castillo-Alvarez told deputies he earned his living in Mexico by selling cars during his nine years as a fugitive.

Prosecutors filed the second-degree murder charge because federal charges could have carried the death penalty and would have made extradition difficult. The state charges were filed in 2004 and allowed Mexican authorities to detain Castillo-Alvarez in October 2005. He was returned to Iowa in October 2006 after an agreement was worked out with Mexican authorities.

The year that passed between the filed charges in Clay County and the arrest in Mexico is the centerpiece of Castillo-Alvarez's appeal Friday. He did not waive his right to a "speedy" trial, within 90 days.

"The state's argument is that there is good cause of the delay because the defendant fled to another country," said Assistant Attorney General Sharon Hall.

Sioux City attorney Patrick Parry represented Castillo-Alvarez at Friday's appeal.

"The state is arguing that he intentionally made himself unavailable," Parry said. "But there's no evidence in the record to show that is accurate from the time that the trial information was filed in 2004 up until his arrest in 2005."

Parry argues that the state wasn't meeting its burden to have Castillo-Alvarez located once they filed court documents and started the clock on the defendant's constitutional rights.

The court filings and speedy trial concerns were the prevalent issue during the hour-long oral arguments, and Hall fielded a majority of the questions from judges. At one point, Hall told the appeals panel the state is not required to "play a game of hide and seek with the defendant."

The panel included Judges Amanda Potterfield, and Gayle Nelson Vogel, Chief Judge Rosemary Shaw Sackett and retired Judge Terry Huitink.

Castillo-Alvarez received a 50-year prison sentence for the murder conviction on April 25, 2008. The kidnapping and conspiracy charges are being served at the same time. The 39-year-old must serve at least 35 years of the sentence and will be 73 before parole can be considered.

ABOUT THE CONVICTION:

* District Court Judge Don Courtney was convinced Juan Humberto Castillo-Alvarez headed a drug ring and orchestrated the abduction and murder of Estherville teenager Gregory Sky Erickson 12 years ago.

Evidence suggests Castillo-Alvarez, a citizen of Mexico, used his brother's identity to stay in the country illegally and operate his Mexican restaurant in Estherville. It was also a front for his gang's drug ring. Weapons were hidden above the ceiling tiles. Drugs were stashed in a broken cooler and handed out in food carry-out bags. Erickson made drug sales on behalf of the gang, but fell out of favor due to an unpaid drug debt.

Gang members assaulted, threatened and abducted Erickson from a Spencer apartment on June 6, 1997, over the debt and Erickson's role as a police informant. Testimony suggests he was taken to meet Castillo-Alvarez in Estherville, then received beatings at Fort Defiance State Park near Estherville, and again at a remote location near Superior in Dickinson County.

From there, five gang members took Erickson to a remote location in Jackson County, Minn. He was shot, execution-style in the basement of an abandoned farmhouse. One of Castillo-Alvarez's enforcers, Luis Lua, was convicted of first-degree murder for firing the fatal bullet.

The crime scene was discovered on June 14, 1997. Castillo-Alvarez, who wasn't present at the farmhouse, fled the country as investigators began to piece together the gang's involvement in the murder.

Ten gang members, all from Estherville, were convicted for varying roles in Erickson's disappearance and death.