Posted on 02/23/2012 5:01:58 PM PST by Libloather
Attorneys challenge account of San Diego corpses
By ELLIOT SPAGAT | Associated Press – 46 min ago
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The government's case against two men accused of dissolving corpses in vats of acid for a Mexican drug gang hinges on flawed witness accounts, defense attorneys said Thursday.
Jose Olivera Beritan, 38, and David Valencia, 41, are accused burning two strangled corpses in 55-gallon barrels of acid heated by slow-burning propane tanks. The killings occurred in a San Diego home in June 2007 in what authorities say was an unusually gruesome display of drug violence crossing the border from Mexico to the United States.
More than two years after the killings, one witness led investigators to Valencia's San Diego ranch, where human remains were recovered. Another cooperating witness likely to face tough questioning from defense attorneys will offer testimony to support many key allegations.
A prosecutor acknowledged Wednesday that the two witnesses were promised more lenient treatment in exchange for their cooperation. The defense attorneys told jurors in the opening statements that those agreements undercut the case.
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Usually happens naturally.
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