Rauch Murder Trial: Guilty Verdict
Days of heart-wrenching testimony, followed by an hour-and-a-half of deliberation. Las Cruces jurors found 51-year-old Kenneth Rauch guilty of first-degree murder for killing 27-year-old Euzebio Escobedo. Rauch was sentenced to life plus 23-years in prison.
ABC-7?s New Mexico Mobile Newsroom was the only media inside the courtroom as the verdict was read Thursday evening.
?We find the defendant guilty of first-degree murder by deliberate killing as charged in count one,? District Judge Lisa Schultz said.
As Schultz read Rauch?s guilty verdict, family members and loved ones of Escobedo struggled to hold back tears. The 27-year-old victim?s father and fianc made it clear they had no remorse for Rauch when they each looked him straight in the eyes and told him how they will never understand why he did what he did.
?And just because somebody took somebody from you didn’t give you the right to take anybody from anybody,? Lucia Aldaba, Escobedo?s fianc, said.
Escobedo?s father, who is in a wheelchair, also spoke out.
?If a person who is depressed dedicates himself to killing people, I?ve been like this for 30-years, can you imagine if I were to kill a person everyday,” Escobedo?s father said.
In a random shooting, Rauch brutally murdered Escobedo outside a Las Cruces gas station on April 25, 2005. Shot nearly a dozen times, Escobedo died next to his fianc, the love of his life, and her 3-year-old son.
?He didn’t deserve to die like that, he suffered,” Aldaba said.
Emotionless, Rauch had very little to say when given his last opportunity by Judge Schultz.
?No ma’am, I see no benefit in it,? Rauch said.
Haunted by horrific memories that have yet to fade, Escobedo?s fianc said despite Rauch?s mental illness and depression from the death of his own wife and son, forgiveness is impossible.
?And I feel nothing, nothing as sympathy for you, nothing? because you didn’t feel nothing when you took him,” Aldaba said.
Although Rauch had few words to say, his attorney Gary Mitchell said Rauch told him he did not know why he shot and killed Escobedo but admitted, it was wrong.
