Controversy Clouds Trial of Suspect in U.S. Soldier's Murder

ByABC News
November 22, 2006, 6:57 PM

Nov. 22, 2006 — -- Luz Morales wants nothing more than justice for her husband's murder, something that has evaded her family for more than seven years.

"I know my husband is not coming back, but I at least want them to pay for their crime," she said.

In 1999, U.S. Army Sgt. Francisco Javier Morales was serving on a humanitarian mission in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch had blown through the Central American country. He was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds in what investigators say was a robbery gone wrong.

Six suspects were quickly detained in connection with the killing, but none was charged with the crime. One of the suspects, Joel Nahum Espinoza, was soon released after it was determined that police had insufficient evidence to hold him.

Despite later rewards for his capture, he disappeared for years.

Earlier this summer, Espinoza was arrested in the murder and led away in handcuffs from the presidential palace in Honduras where he worked in the Honor Guard. It appeared to mark the end of the Morales family's long, desperate search for answers.

Officials involved in the case, however, say someone appears to be spending a lot of energy and money to keep Espinoza out of jail.

Not long after Espinoza's arrest on July 11 and transfer to Trujillo, the sleepy town on Honduras' northern coast where the crime took place, prosecutors and U.S. officials allege the defense team launched an intense intimidation campaign to free him from the charges.

"Immediately the defense team began to press witnesses to recant their testimony," Ian Brownlee, the consul general at the U.S. embassy in Honduras, told ABC News.

The defense, meanwhile, maintained that Espinoza's arrest was simply a case of mistaken identity.

The U.S. Embassy in Honduras has played a vocal role pushing back against what it sees as irregularities in the trial.

"The U.S. wants to see a fair trial that is free of outside influences," Brownlee said. He appeared on Honduran television last month to expose the irregularities publicly.