Guilty verdict handed down
By Bobbi Mlynar
Originally published 01:49 p.m., April 19, 2010
Updated 05:14 p.m., April 19, 2010
A jury deliberated about three and a half hours this afternoon before returning guilty verdicts in the trial of Samuel Llamas, who had been charged with felony murder and aiding and abetting in a shooting into an occupied vehicle.
A pre-sentence investigation will be conducted, with sentencing set for 10 a.m. on June 18 in Lyon County District Court.
The jury had requested assistance in their deliberations twice during the afternoon. Once was to request the definition of "aid and abet"; the second was to re-view a surveillance video taken when Llamas and Ismael (Mike) Navarro went into a nearby convenience store minutes after the murder of Omar G. Flores.
Flores was shot to death shortly after 8 p.m. on Sept. 8, 2009, in the parking lot of the Rodeway Inn, 3181 W. Highway 50. Testimony during the trial identified Navarro as the man who shot Flores 11 times with a .22 long rifle.
The quarrel between the two men apparently evolved from a drug deal in which Navarro traveled by train to the Los Angeles area, where he allegedly picked up crystal methamphetamine and delivered back to Flores in Kansas. Flores did not pay Navarro $4,000 due for the meth.
Llamas was a passenger in the car driven by Navarro when they spotted Flores driving a white SUV near Las Casitas Park. Navarro and Llamas followed Flores to the motel parking lot, where Navarro confronted Flores. After an exchange of angry words, witnesses said that Navarro shot Flores 11 times.
Flores died three days later in the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City.
Testimony in the trial ended this morning, after the prosecution rested and the defense called one witness, Ricardo Llamas, uncle of the defendant.
Ricardo Llamas testified only briefly. He said that Samuel Llamas had called him the night of the shooting and said that he needed a ride home from the gas station where Ricardo Llamas' father works.
He said he looked for his nephew and found him walking home along Sixth Avenue.
"He flagged me down," Ricardo Llamas said. "... We went to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk."
Then, they went home. Samuel Llamas did not mention what had happened, his uncle testified.
Samuel Llamas told Lyon County District Judge Jeffry Larson that he had talked to his attorney and had decided not to testify. Larson asked him whether he had been promised anything or had been threatened about the decision.
Llamas said that his decision was voluntary.
Larson told jurors about the criteria to use in judging the Llamas case. On the felony murder charge, two criteria would need to be met, in addition to the date of the shooting: 1. that the defendant or another person killed Omar Flores, and 2. that the killing was done while in the commission of a crime of criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle.
The criteria that must be met for a conviction on discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle, in addition to the date of the shooting, is: 1. that the defendant maliciously, intentionallly, and without authorization aided and abetted another in the discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle, and 2. that the act resulted in great bodily harm.
Larson said that each alleged crime was separate and distinct and must be decided on evidence, without influence by a decision made on either charge.
For details of closing arguments, see Tuesday's online or print Gazette.
slimbolen99 (anonymous) says...
If Goodman loses this one, should he be out of the County Attorney's office? How many murder trials has he won that haven't been overturned?
April 19, 2010 at 4:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Good job, jury!
I sure would like to see us grab Navarro. I'm sure he is deep in hiding in Mexico, never to be seen around here again. I guess he'll never pay that money to those California druggies now, eh? On the other hand, those CA druggies probably have a keen way of locating him before we do.
We'll never know.
April 19, 2010 at 5:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
12345678 (anonymous) says...
Karma is a bitch, you can't hide forever....
April 20, 2010 at 9:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
Everyone always assumes "karma" is going to get the other person. Funny how they never think it will get them. I guess people think they can justify everything they do to "karma" but the other person can't. How convenient "karma" is.
April 20, 2010 at 9:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
Somebody should name their dog Karma that way they can say "Bad Karma! BAD Karma!" when the dog chews up the furniture. If there really was karma I bet a lot more dog owners would be chewing up their dogs stuff to balance things out.
April 20, 2010 at 10:58 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kaitelyn (anonymous) says...
Just a short message, i honestly think this city is so full of it! specialy the laws! i cant believe someone like samuel has been found guilty of a murder that wasnt committed by him! i do believe in karma! yup! karma is muthafuc*** bi@tch & is gonna come back 2 all those people who testified & lied about this crime!! one of them its NAOME & her brother!! they should be the once locked up!! her brother burned all the evidence along with a friend! & his sister Naome is covering up!! for her boyfriend Mike Navarro! she knows where he lives in Mexico!
April 20, 2010 at 6:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kaitelyn (anonymous) says...
the six paragraph says that witnesses said that Navarro shot Omar, so i dont understand why would they accused Llamas of a murder that wasnt committed by him! & that Naome, her brother & his friend who actually burned all the evidence are free, thay should get locked up 2!! thay knew Navarro killed Omar & didnt say nothing about it! I pray 2 God so that Mike Navarro pays for this crime one day!
April 20, 2010 at 7:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nmse_s (Shannon Standard) says...
Kaitelyn,
From what I know those individuals have some sort of immunity with their testimony. Llamas may not have pulled the trigger, but he was there, he never turned Navarro in and probably didn't strike a deal with the attorney. That is what they call an accomplis to the murder.
April 20, 2010 at 8:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
kaitelyn, An old Emporia proverb: You hang with the Slime you may do Their time.
Maybe Samuel will chose his friends a little more carefully in the future.
April 20, 2010 at 8:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
And kaitelyn, If you hate Emporia So much There is something called Greyhound Bus Lines.
April 20, 2010 at 8:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lovelyp0is0n (anonymous) says...
Kaitlyn...I completely agree with you. And everyone else like you state in your own comments....you don't know what was going on or happened so why do you have to jump on someone that doesn't agree with what happened? And I hope that fat joe, mike c, and naomi all get prosecuted because they not only hid information, destroyed evidence, and lied on stand. they knew the murder was gonna happen and didn't say anything...samuel didn't even know what was going on. read all the articles about this case...mike camarena changed his story like 3 different times.
now sit and ponder that!
April 22, 2010 at 10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
Well, some people say stuff and it's all ... like... you know. But they are really thinking about other stuff that kinda is just ............. yeah. So to put it another way we should all just ...........
April 22, 2010 at 11:04 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nosebleed420 (anonymous) says...
lovely poison aka kristin powell(wore a wire on somebody-snitch) is no better than anyone else. sold drugs, had kids and neglected them, hangs out with crackheads, went three months without toilet paper cuz she would rather buy weed, cheated on her man, smokes meth, has been arrested for cocaine possession... the list goes on and on. and yea sammie planned it just as much as mike navarro did. when mike picked him up he knew they were out for blood. oh yea and kaitlyn you are just as much trash as the rest of the world.
now "sit and ponder that" lmfao dumb hos
February 21, 2011 at 6:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nosebleed420 (anonymous) says...
and yea the information was hid till they all got snitched out-you know how that feels huh? snitchin people out and what not-and no one lied on the stand you dumb bia bia that was one of the conditions of the immunity (limited immunity- cant be charged for anything mentioned in the testimony; dont think they were dumb enough any more to hold anything back when they were facing 12 to 20 in the pen now do you) but dont bother to reply to this i know that rock is callin you to come smoke it so waddle along there porky
February 21, 2011 at 7:04 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
EsqEB (anonymous) says...
Oh yeah man I knows exactally whats you be saying dawg. That aints no lies, youse be speaking da truth. Everyone o'dem peeps be snitches and crack hoes. No booty paper cause de be spendin' its on weed, yeah dawg. You keep keeping it real duh, OK, donts be no snitches like porky. Straight outta lo-cash!
February 21, 2011 at 8:40 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Due to budget cutbacks, the Kansas Department of Corrections has plans to layoff 66 employees by mid June. One-third will be from the parole supervision area.
Doesn't that make us feel good.
February 21, 2011 at 9:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
uranidiot (anonymous) says...
If you socialize with people of a certain part of society you are likely to end up in prison. You can't tell me that the shooter in this incident didn't show previous history of violence and law breaking. So why did Llamas get in a car with someone that was likely to go and shoot someone? Doesn't matter what the answer is he was there and facilitated murder. Now he's going to jail.
February 21, 2011 at 10:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )