old thread, but I came across this today...
Set/Reset Hearings 10/01/2013Change of Plea Hearing 09/25/2013
USA v James Thomas Wilkey
4:13-cr-01216-01-RCC-CRP
(1) 8:1324(a)(1)(A)(ii), (a)(1)(B)(ii) Transportation of Illegal Aliens for Profit
Who is James Wilkey?
1 John Newton WILKEY b: 15 FEB 1853 d: 28 JUN 1921
2 Willis Wilson WILKEY b: 24 OCT 1877 d: 11 NOV 1937
3 Ada Mae WILKEY b: 22 FEB 1904 d: 3 MAR 1989
4 Sandra DAY O'Connor b: 6 MAR 1930
2 Blanton Taylor WILKEY b: 13 AUG 1895 d: 23 OCT 1969
3 James Thomas WILKEY b: Nov 23, 1949Wilkey acquitted in rip-off killingTucson Daily Citizen, Saturday, June 12, 1976, Page 1
A Superior Court jury late last night acquitted James T. Wilkey of first-degree murder charges, refuting prosecution attempts to place him at the center of an alleged drug smuggling and rip-off gang. After deliberating only about 4 hours following an 11-day trial, the 10-man, two-woman jury returned its verdict about 10:30 last night, acquitting Wilkey of first-degree murder and armed burglary. Wilkey broke into tears at the verdict, as did several of his friends in the courtroom. Wilkey went on trial following numerous plea bargaining agreements with other defendants in the case in an attempt to convict Wilkey of the Aug. 11 slaying of pilot William "Bayou Billy" Graham. Even though Wilkey was not at the scene of the murder, the prosecution maintained that Wilkey ordered Graham's killers to go to a North Side home in search of $100,000 in profits from marijuana sales. In his closing arguments to the jury yesterday, Deputy County Ally. Donald Becker stressed that Wilkey was the main target for prosecution in the killing. Wilkey was accused of hiring Ronald J. Juarez, 21, Manuel Martinez, 33, Robert J. Lisalda, 19, Richard H. Lower, 41, and Timothy L. O'Neill, 26, to "do" the 6660 N. Alvernqn Way home of convicted contraband smugglers Michael and Marc Norman. In exchange for their testimony against Wilkey, Juarez -- who admitted he fired the fatal shots -- Lower and O'Neill were allowed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of second- degree murder and are serving sentences in Arizona State Prison. Lisalda was sentenced to one year in Pima County Jail and five years probation after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and Martinez is awaiting trial after pleading innocent. But the hard-won testimony of Wilkey's co-defendants probably was one of the main reasons for his acquittal. Juarez, Lower, O'Neill and Lisalda all swore that Wilkey knew about the raid but refused to join. Lower, O'Neill and Lisalda said they felt Juarez was the strategist, but Juarez blamed Wilkey for plotting the rip-off from start to finish.
More charges filedKingman Daily Miner, Aug 9, 1978
A Tucson Man man already awaiting trial in connection with a drug and cash ripoff ring has been charged with an additional five counts in an indictment issued by a federal grand jury.
The five-count indictment issued Tuesday charges James T. Wilkey with conspiracy to import 3,060 pounds of marijuana in 1975, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and possession with intent to distribute.
Four Pima County indictments issued earlier have named Wilkey in 14 counts on charges including armed robbery, armed burglary and conspiracy to commit armed burglary.
Ex-Tucsonan on trial in deathTucson Citizen, June 21, 1996
James Wilkey is charged in the 1987 murder of Elsa Benitez, a girlfriend who was leaving him.
Pima County Prosecutor Rick Unklesbay conceded that charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping are based solely on circumstantial evidence as the trial opened this week against a former Tucson man arrested in the death of his girlfriend.
In November 1987, a hiker found the nude body of 25-year-old Elsa Benitez in a shallow grave on the far East Side.
Nine years later in Superior Court here, the state is trying to prove James Thomas Wilkey, 45, killed her.
Kidnapper acquitted of murderTucson Citizen, June 28, 1996
A man accused of killing his girlfriend in 1987 was acquitted of her murder, but convicted of kidnapping her yesterday by a Tucson jury.
He could face a sentence of up to four years, or up to 12 years if a judge determines there are prior felony convictions against him.
Man sentenced to 12 years in abductionTucson Citizen, Aug 27, 1996
A man who was acquitted of killing his girlfriend was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in prison for kidnapping her in 1987.
James Thomas Wilkey, 45, was acquitted of killing Elsa Benitez, 25, whose nude body was buried in a shallow grave on the far East Side.
But the same Tucson jury that cleared him of murder in late June convicted him of kidnapping Benitez.
In 1978, Wilkey was sentenced to eight years in prison on federal charges of marijuana conspiracy and on state charges of conspiracy to commit armed robbery. He was suspected as a key member of a gang that stole $1 million worth of marijuana and $1.5 million in cash from drug dealers here in the early 1970s, prosecutors said.
Wilkey is serving a nine-year prison sentence for a federal weapons violation.
