COLDSPRING, Texas — Francisco Torres Oropeza pleaded not guilty in an East Texas court on Capital Murder charges related to the alleged murder of five Honduran migrants. The Hondurans, including a young child, lived next door to Oropeza at the time of the reported shooting deaths.
Francisco Oropeza appeared before 411th District Court Judge John Wells III for arraignment on charges he murdered five Honduran migrants in April who lived next door to his house near Cleveland, Texas. The San Jacinto County grand jury indicted Oropeza on June 28 for the capital murder of two of the five alleged victims.
As Breitbart Texas watched, San Jacinto County District Attorney presented the Capital Murder indictment to the court and Oropeza on Thursday in Coldspring, Texas. Houston defense attorney Anthony Osso contested the spelling of the defendant’s name on the indictment. Mr. Oropeza spoke to the judge and indicated the spelling was “Oropeza” not “Oropesa.” The judge ordered the indictment to be amended to reflect the changed spelling.
Attorney Osso went on to request access to evidence regarding the dispatching records and the GPS locations of all deputies units that were on duty on the night of the alleged mass-murder. At one point, Osso appeared to indicate that the sheriff’s office could have kept the murders from happening if they had arrived sooner.
Osso said the timeline “raises some concerns from a defense standpoint.” “We have reason to believe,” Osso continued, “that this entire incident could have been averted or that action could have been taken to prevent this. It might become a mitigating factor.”
Family members of the five decedents sat in the jury box and watched the proceedings, Breitbart Texas learned from DA Dillon.
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A large contingent of law enforcement provided security inside and outside the courthouse. The contingent included the San Jacinto Sheriff’s Office tactical team and special agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives accompanied by K-9 teams.
During the discussions before the judge, Oropeza pleaded not guilty to the single count of Capital Murder. Judge Wells set the next court date for December 7, 2023.
ATF agents provide security outside San Jacinto County Court House during the arraignment of alleged capital murder suspect Francisco Oropeza. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
Before the hearing, attorney Osso refused to speak with Breitbart Texas and expressed displeasure over the reporting of Oropeza’s immigration status. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials previously told Breitbart that Francisco Oropeza Perez-Torres had been deported from the U.S. on four separate occasions. The first order of removal came in March 2009. He was deported again in September 2009, January 2012, and July 2016.
Following the hearing, Osso spoke with ABC 13 who reported that Osso said there is a lot more to this case and they hope to use that information to avoid a trial. “Those facts become important when we talk to the state about maybe trying to resolve the case,” Osso said.
After an initial hearing in May, Osso told reporters that there was bad blood between his client and the neighbors he allegedly murdered.
“The initial story about asking him not to shoot his gun in the backyard because a baby was sleeping is probably not going to prove to be an accurate version of the events,” Osso said to the group of reporters, including Breitbart Texas. He said his client was initially friends with his Honduran neighbors, but things “started to go downhill” after the neighbor’s dogs went into Oropeza’s yard and killed his sheep and chickens.
San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers escorts accused killer Francisco Oropeza from a hearing held on May 18 in the courthouse. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)
San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers led a multi-agency task force on a four-day manhunt for Oropeza for the alleged murders of five Honduran migrants who lived next door to him.
The victims of the alleged murders were previously identified by Sheriff Capers as:
- Julisa Molina Rivera, age 31
- Sonia Argentina Guzman, age 25
- Diana Velazquez Alvarado, age 21
- Jose Jonathan Casarez, age 18
- Daniel Enrique Laso, age 9
The manhunt for Oropeza ended on May 2 with the arrest of Oropeza in a friend’s house in Cut & Shoot Texas, Breitbart reported.
Oropeza remains in custody in the San Jacinto County Jail, where he is being held without bond.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.