Third murder suspect could face retrial after new evidence
Eduardo Morales
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – New evidence that lead to the dismissal of the murder trial involving two twin brothers could see another man go free.
Manuel Trujillo was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the shooting of 15-year-old Cesar Aguilar, alongside twins 25-year-old David and Adrian Perez-Arzola.
Trujillo pled guilty to second-degree murder after he was sentenced in 2023.
Now, Trujillo is going through a petition for post-conviction relief following this recent development.
“He’ll be able to argue that he should not have taken the plea, or would not have taken the plea if this evidence had been provided to him,” said Dallin Marcy, the Yuma Deputy Attorney.
The prosecuting attorney shares how the new information obtained affected this case.
“Because of the information I got, it shifted that belief from ‘I believe we have a reasonable likelihood of conviction here’ [to] ‘I don’t believe that there is a reasonable likelihood of conviction based on this new evidence,'” Marcy says.
If Trujillo’s request is granted, his case could be retried and possibly dismissed.