Death penalty trial begins against Mesa man for raping and killing teenager

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — It has been more than 10 years since 14-year-old girl Claudia Lucero was found strangled in a dumpster in Mesa.

Thursday was the first day of the murder trial of Alex Madrid, the man accused of killing her.

According to the police, Madrid is the ex-boyfriend of the victim's mother. Claudia was sexually abused before her murder.

For Madrid, the death penalty is on the table.

The prosecution has everything from DNA evidence to cellphone location data to physical evidence on its side, but the defense said that based on the surveillance videos, Madrid did not have enough time to dispose of her body in the dumpster.

“Sometimes the person you want most is the person you can't have. For Alex Madrid, 14-year-old Claudia Lucero was that person,” the prosecution began.

In their opening statements, the prosecution laid the foundation for what happened to Claudia on December 5, 2013.

According to police and state sources, Claudia's mother recently separated from Madrid and forced him to move out of their shared apartment.

They said that December morning, after Claudia's mother and brothers had left the house, Claudia was getting ready for school when Madrid came into the apartment, raped her and then took her life.

“Alex Madrid decided to obtain some type of restraint, wrap it around her neck, and then strangle her to death,” the indictment said.

According to police, he then placed her in a gray tub, wrapped her in a blanket and some of her belongings, and disposed of her body in this blue dumpster in a nearby complex.

Claudia's mother reported her missing because she thought she might have run away, until the next morning two women searched the blue dumpster for bottles and cans.

“At some point, the woman realized that what she was pulling on was a body because the blanket opened and she saw that there were two human legs underneath,” the indictment said.

This body was identified as Claudia.

However, the defense said in its opening statement that surveillance footage showed an unlikely time frame in which Madrid could have disposed of the teenager's body.

According to the video, Madrid's lawyer said the garbage container was emptied at 7:18 a.m.

“There is a time window in these videos between 7:18 and 7:28,” the defense attorney said.

He said the surveillance video recording resumed at 7:28 a.m. and claimed that in that short window of time, Madrid did not have enough time to commit the act.

“You will not see Mr. Madrid in this video. You will not see Mr. Madrid throwing a body in the dumpster,” the defense said.

However, prosecutors said that in addition to Claudia's belongings found in the dumpster with her body, a trunk mat that was apparently missing from Madrid's trunk was labeled with a tag matching the make and model of his car.

DNA results, including the semen found on Claudia's body, also matched those from Madrid, but Claudia's lawyer claimed that the police had already made up their minds and were not investigating anyone else.

“The investigators in this case failed to consider other possibilities,” said the defense attorney. “This was a hasty decision.”

Claudia's brother testified late Thursday afternoon; he was the last person to see her alive.

He said a blue tie was missing from his tie rack and was audibly surprised when it was first shown to him as evidence in the courtroom.

The state assumed that it was probably the murder weapon.

It was incredibly difficult to select a jury for this case.

Since this is a death penalty case, there are very different opinions on whether it is a death penalty or not, so the court had to find open-minded people who would not pass judgment until the time came for the verdict.

The judge also told the jury that they should expect to remain here until the end of January.

Because the trial was taking so long, they were concerned about whether there would be enough jurors available.

During the entire trial, 18 jurors and six alternates sit in the proceedings, but who the alternates are is not revealed until the end of the guilt phase.

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