The Valentine’s Day crime spree left 2 dead. A jury will decide if this man killed them
Eleven months to the day after a homeless man and an elderly woman were attacked and stabbed to death in Pasco, the trial started for their alleged killer.
Hector Orozco Jr., 43, faces seven charges for the Valentine’s Day crime spree that spanned 10 hours.
Jury selection got under way Monday in Franklin County Superior Court, with 141 people sent a summons. County Clerk Mike Killian said 105 potential jurors appeared and filled out questionnaires.
Now the attorneys and Judge Bruce Spanner are whittling down the pool, immediately dismissing some for hardship or medical reasons and selecting others for individual questioning.
Prosecutor Shawn Sant and Deputy Prosecutor Dave Corkrum said they hope to give opening statements Thursday and begin testimony. The trial could last up to three weeks.
Orozco has felony charges of first-degree murder for Bonnie D. Ross, second-degree murder for Demetrius A. Graves, attempted first-degree murder for Shegow Gagow and the unlawful imprisonment of Anthony Nugent.
Orozco also is charged with third-degree driving with a suspended license, a misdemeanor, and two counts of fourth-degree assault, gross misdemeanors.
Prosecutors on Monday dropped one count each of violating a no-contact order and operating a vehicle without an ignition interlock. Those gross misdemeanor charges were dismissed, in part, because proving them to a jury would require going into Orozco’s prior convictions, which a judge has said will not be allowed at the trial.
Orozco pleaded innocent to the amended charges. He is being held on $3 million bail.
In February, Orozco was in the Franklin County jail, locked up for punching his girlfriend in the back of the head.
When he was released on Feb. 12, his mother reportedly dropped him off at the Rodeway Inn to live with his girlfriend, even though Orozco had been ordered to stay away from her because of the domestic violence allegation.
The following night, Graves, Orozco and Gagow met up with another man and went to a shed behind a Bonneville Street home to smoke something, court documents said.
As they were leaving the shed Orozco allegedly started attacking people, first hitting Gagow in the head and then turning to Graves.
He allegedly hit Graves several times in the face and stabbed him once in the upper back and twice near his sternum, puncturing his lungs, according to the autopsy. Graves, a 39-year-old transient, was killed about 4 a.m.
Gagow told police he had tried to hit Orozco with a stick to stop him but Orozco charged at him.
Later that afternoon, Orozco was captured at the Rodeway Inn. He had been driving a Toyota Corolla that belonged to Ross, an 82-year-old Pasco woman.
Ross, who lived alone, was found dead in her home Feb. 16 after her son asked concerned neighbors to check on her.
Detectives had knocked on her door several times the day before, but no one answered. Ross may have been ambushed after she got home from the grocery store the morning of Feb. 14, court documents said.
Police believe Orozco beat and strangled her and stabbed her twice, documents said. Her injuries included a broken jaw and ribs and a punctured lung from a knife.
Orozco allegedly had $865 cash on him when arrested. Sant said Monday they plan to present evidence to the jury that Ross routinely had $1,000 in a safe in her home, but it was empty when they searched after her death.