Marmolejo’s Fall Trial Day By Day
David Marmolejo’s fall 2010 trial day by day.
Day one: Jennifer Marmolejo, who is married to David Marmolejo’s brother, Manny, testified that Gloria Marmolejo did not get along with Mariah Wilson. Also taking the stand were several El Paso Police officers. The defense repeatedly questioned their investigation, including why one officer failed to include an important statement about David’s last cell phone conversation with his mother. Testimony also included how investigators found a shoelace tied to a net in the back of Gloria’s car, but a detective testified that he didn’t think they analyzed it for evidence. But probably the most moving piece of evidence was when the prosecution displayed pictures of Gloria’s body in the desert.
Day two: El Paso Police Officer Benjamin Mitchell. Told the jury he thought New Mexico authorities jeopardized the investigation when they arrived at the scene where body discovered. Mitchell said they rolled Gloria Marmolejo’s body and put a paper brown bag over her head. Police officers testified they took blood samples from various spots around the house.
Day three: Jurors sat through hours of testimony about blood and DNA tests. Though none of it pins Marmolejo to the crime, some of the evidence ties him to the investigation. Along with Mariah Wilson, David Marmolejo’s stepsister and girlfriend at the time of his mother’s death, several witnesses confirmed her blood was found throughout Gloria Marmolejo’s house, including on a washing machine and metal cabinet in the garage and on a wall just below an air conditioning switch. David Marmolejo’s blood was not found inside the home but DNA experts tested a number of different samples related to the case, including some jeans, a coaxial cable in the garage, scraped grout from the shower and bathroom floor in the master bedroom, carpet from outside the bathroom and carpet padding. They concluded that DNA from both David Marmolejo and Wilson were on all of these items.
