Defense, Prosecution Open To Change Of Venue In Marmolejo Retrial

Add the defense for David Marmolejo to those who want to move his murder retrial out of El Paso.

Marmolejo and his lawyers met with prosecutors and Judge Gonzalo Garcia Thursday morning to try and work out a date for his retrial. They also discussed a possible change of venue that Garcia and prosecutors brought up last week. Thursday, the defense said they would be open to the move.

Garcia declared a mistrial in David’s murder trial earlier this month after two-and-half days of deliberations when the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.

David was charged with the July 2009 murder of his mother, Gloria Marmolejo.

The defense asked the judge for the jury to have more time to come to a verdict and the judge said no.

During the trial, the prosecution tried to use cell phone calls to place David in the vicinity of where his mother’s body was found in the Santa Teresa, New Mexico desert. Mariah Wilson, David’s stepsister and one-time girlfriend, also testified for the prosecution and said David admitted to her he killed his mother.

Wilson, testifying under an immunity agreement with the state, testified that that she helped clean up the murder scene in Gloria’s East Side home and helped dispose of the body.

David’s defense attorney said police never considered Wilson a suspect in the murder case despite her DNA being found at the murder scene.