Judge deciding if slaying case merits move to juvenile court

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A Pulaski County circuit judge is considering whether an 18-year-old Little Rock man accused of a slaying when he was 17 should be prosecuted in juvenile court.

Judge Cathi Compton concluded a 3½ hour-hearing Tuesday by saying that she'll decide the question in the coming days after further review of the evidence.

Defense attorney Lisa Walton urged the judge to give Joseph Villarreal a chance at rehabilitation in the juvenile-justice system.

Villarreal, who turned 18 in March, is a victim himself of physical abuse, sexual violence and neglectful parents who turned him out of their home, forcing him to fend for himself, the public defender said. He's twice been placed in foster care, been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and repeatedly institutionalized for depression, trauma and suicidal and homicidal thoughts, according to testimony at the hearing.

The juvenile system failed him so far, Walton said, pointing to testimony about how he was beaten by other children while in a lockup in an attack that was deliberately ignored by staff members.

"He wouldn't be sitting here if he had the correct family support, the correct community support," Walton told the judge. "[The Division of Youth Services] failed him. His family failed him."

If Villarreal is prosecuted in the juvenile system, he can be held until he turns 21 then required to serve at least three years on probation and most likely longer, Walton said. If Villarreal cannot prove to a judge that he's been rehabilitated, he can be sent to prison.

She further argued that the case against Villarreal is not as cut-and-dried as prosecutors claim because it's based in part on witnesses who have a reason to downplay or obscure their roles in what happened to 37-year-old Nicholas David Winter in May 2020.

Villarreal is accused of fatally shooting Winter at 2303 E. 145th where Winter had been renting a room, sheriff's investigator Terrance Mems testified.

He told the judge that three masked men, Villarreal among them, stormed the residence on the orders of the homeowner, Anthony Griego, 19, to force Winter off the property. The effort was organized by 36-year-old Floyd St. Clair, with Christopher Burroughs, the third member of the group, Mems testified. Neither man was charged.

St. Clair and Burroughs told authorities their intent was a physical confrontation to get Winter out of the home and that they were surprised when Villarreal shot Winter, who had armed himself with a rifle, almost as soon as the three entered the residence, Mems said. Both men said they did not know Villarreal was armed, the deputy testified.

Villarreal's little brother also told deputies that his brother had told him how he had shot a man and didn't know whether the man had survived, the investigator said. Mems testified that he'd known Villarreal since the teen was a Mills High School student who was arrested on campus -- and then expelled -- for having a BB gun at school.

Deputy prosecutor Christy Bjornson urged the judge to retain jurisdiction of the case, arguing that Villarreal has deliberately disregarded numerous opportunities to improve himself. He continued to make choices about how to live his life that included his decision to shoot a man -- someone he's never met, the prosecutor said.

"He chose to be there. He chose to bring a gun and he chose to use it, after being there less than a minute," Bjornson said. "He chose to attack Mr. Winter."

Testimony showed that Villarreal has been in the juvenile-justice system since 2018, mostly for property crimes, and the prosecutor further noted the time frame of the slaying, 2½ months after he was released from a monthslong incarceration in a juvenile detention facility.

Court records show that in September 2019, Villarreal, then 16, was charged as an adult with committing a terroristic act after Little Rock police linked him and a woman, 31-year-old Vanessa Quintana, to a May 2019 shooting that wounded Victor Faz, 25, Quintana's cousin, at a mobile-home park at 8118 Stanton Road.

Questioned by police, Villarreal said a man had fired a shotgun at him during an argument involving a group of people and that he had joined Quintana in shooting at some of the people, according to an arrest affidavit. Quintana was identified as the person who shot Faz, court filings show.

Over the objections of prosecutors, the judge's predecessor, Herb Wright, transferred Villerreal's case to juvenile court in February 2020, court filings show. Quintana's trial is pending.

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