Update: Found Guilty -- Illegal Alien Guns Down Ozark Native

This post has been rolled forward several times awaiting final justice to occur.

Jesus Sesena-Murrieta

April 27, 2011 Update: Finally, illegal alien Jesus Sesena-Murrieta has been found guilty of murdering 22-year-old Alonzo Foster Jr. Unfortunately, the taxpayers will be paying to incarcerate Sesena-Murrieta for potentially life. The taxpayers have already paid to house and care for him since he was arrested in July, 2008. Unfortuantely, the highest cost was to Alonzo Foster Jr. and his family and friends. This situation was "100% Preventable" and would not have occurred if the Federal Government had done its job of stopping illegal aliens from entering our country. This tragedy occurred in the quiet Ozarks where people know their neighbors. It occurred because of the failure of the Federal Government to protect our borders and because of the actions of Jesus Sesena-Murrieta who should not have been in the Ozarks or the United States.

The following local newspaper reports the final verdict: by Josh Dooley, Baxter Bulletin: Jesus Sesena-Murrieta, 29, faces life in prison after being found guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of 22-year-old Alonzo Foster Jr., after a bench trial before Circuit Court Judge John Moody that ended late Tuesday afternoon.

In Missouri, second-degree murder carries a 10- to 30-year to life sentence while armed criminal action carries a three-year to life sentence, according to one of Murrieta's Springfield, Mo. based defense attorneys, Adam Woody. Read this entire story in the Wednesday, April 27, 2011 print edition of The Baxter Bulletin.

June 30, 2010 Update: by Ed Burton, Ozark Area Network: A date for a murder trial has been set for a man accused of shooting and killing a former Norfork resident. 30-year-old Jesus Sesena-Murrieta is scheduled for 9AM April 25, [2011] in Laclede County, according to an online court docket entry filed Friday. Sesena-Murrieta is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of 22-year-old Alonzo Foster Jr., who was shot and killed on July 20, 2008. Sesena-Murrieta was charged in Ozark County and the case was transferred to Laclede County on a change of venue motion. Witnesses who testified at a September 2008 preliminary hearing in Ozark County said Alicia Sanders, who is the property owner and Sesena-Murrieta’s mother-in-law, told them they were trespassing and asked them to leave. A witness said after they agreed to leave, Sesena-Murrieta pulled out a gun and shot Foster four times. Authorities say Sesena-Murrieta was not living in the country legally, but was working on paperwork to become a legal resident at the time of the crime.

Update Jan 14, 2010: Ky3 TV News: Family wants Ozark County woman charged for helping illegal immigrant/murder suspect.

GAINESVILLE, Mo. -- A year-and-a-half-old murder case in Ozark County took a turn on the courthouse lawn on Thursday. "We just want justice," many signs read. Family and friends of Alonzo Foster Jr. were out in force, picketing. "Our lives are shattered," said Alonzo Foster Sr.

In July 2008, the 22-year-old man whom they called Zo was fatally shot at a picnic on Lick Creek. An illegal immigrant from Mexico, Jesus Sesena-Murrieta, was charged with second-degree murder.

"The woman that was harboring him, she's been held responsible for nothing," said the victim's sister, Jacky Holt-Foster. "We have no peace, no closure." That woman's role in harboring Sesena-Murrieta was the focus of the picket. "If she had not allowed him to stay with her, keeping him on her property, he would not have been there to shoot my son," said Foster. "(Sesena-Murrieta) may have pulled the trigger," Holt-Foster said, "but she gave him the things he needed to do it." When it comes to this woman, it's KY3's policy in this story and all stories to not name parties unless charges have been filed. All the Fosters and their family and friends want is justice for Zo but the sheriff says his hands are tied.

"If there was a law where I could do it, I'd do it," Ozark County Sheriff Raymond Pace said, "I'd have no problem putting them away." The sheriff says this is a federal ordeal. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Springfield office says it is aware of the case.

"(At this time) we're not going to do anything to muddy the water, or jeopardize the state's criminal case," said ICE's Mike Spinella. Spinella went on to say the statute of limitations for a case like this is usually five-years.

"It just seems like your country's letting you down," Foster said. "She's doing whatever she wants, having fun; my son can't do that." "People think in time it fades away. It doesn't," said the victim's sister, Christina Foster.

A trial date has yet to be set for Sesena-Murrieta. Witnesses say Sesena-Murrieta claimed Foster was trespassing with family and friends while picnicking along Lick Creek.

The ICE office and Foster family directed KY3 to Sec. 8 u.s.c. 1324 in regards to any person harboring a known, illegal immigrant. The Fosters also want agents to look at Sec. 18 u.s.c. 922 paragraph d-5 when it comes to Sesena-Murrieta having and using a firearm.

Sept 9, 2009 Update: It has been over a year and Jesus Sesena-Murrieta is still being held on a charge of murder in Ozark County, MO. No record of a trial date in Laclede County, MO was located or identified by sources. Based on conversations with various sources, the case [Case# 08LA-CR01437-01] was officially transferred to Laclede County. Various pre-trial legal correspondence have occurred. But no records were identified. The defendant remains housed in Ozark County Jail because it is cheaper to house him in Ozark County than in Laclede County.

Update October 7, 2008: News-Leader: The case of a Gainesville man accused of killing another man in a trespassing dispute will be tried outside of Ozark County, a judge ruled Monday. Though Jesus Sesena-Murrieta allegedly killed Alonzo Foster Jr. in the county, the case has been transferred to a Laclede County court.

Update August 17, 2008: The Democrat-Gazette - Jesus Sesena-Murrieta, 27, will be bound over for trial in Ozark County Circuit Court on felony charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action, Associate Division Circuit Judge John Jacobs ruled at the close of a nearly three hour hearing. Jacobs rejected a defense motion for bail for Sesena-Murrieta, who has been held in the Ozark County jail since the July 20 shooting death of Alonzo M. Foster Jr., 22, of Ash Flat. . . . Sesena-Murrieta is originally from Mexico. Riley testified that an officer with U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Sesena-Murrieta did not have the required documentation proving he was in the United States legally and would be subject to deportation if he is released from jail.

Date of following Post: July 27, 2008: [Story is being rolled forward as updated news is made available]
Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: The peace and quite of the Ozarks was broken Sunday when a young Ozark native was gunned down by an illegal alien. A North Central Arkansas Ozark paper, The Baxter Bulletin broke the story today in an article by JoAnne Bratton. The online version identified:

Jesus Sesena-Murrieta, 26, is charged with killing Alonzo Foster Jr., 22, . . . at a creek in Ozark County, Mo. . . . Foster was with about 10 people swimming in Lick Creek near the Mammoth, Mo. area, Sunday afternoon and was getting ready to build a fire to cook hot dogs, family members said. About 4 p.m., the landowner, Alicia Sanders, went down to get them off her property, . . . Her son-in-law, Sesena-Murrieta, was present.

Pace reported an argument began, which led to shoving, and Sesena-Murrieta pulled out a .38-caliber snub-nosed pistol and shot Foster four times, . . . Foster's parents, Alonzo and Sandy Foster, said they heard no fighting and were getting ready to leave when their son was shot.

A much longer printed version identified that:

. . .they had and picnicked at the creek thousands of times and didn't see any no-trespassing signs . . . Authorities said . . . Sesena-Murrieta fled ... after the shooting. His wife convinced him to return and he turned himself in . . . Sesena-Murrieta is from Mexico and is in the United States illegally, . . . [He} was charged with second degree murder and armed criminal action.

Family members of the victim are worried that a bond-reduction hearing could be held and that Sesena-Murrieta will be released and flee back to Mexico. Mexico does not extradite criminals for capital cases unless the death penalty is waived. There has been no mention of ICE being involved or of federal detention charges being filed. As MJ at Blogs For Borders would say, this is a crime was "100% Preventable." If an illegal alien had not been in the heart of the United States, this crime would not have happened, and Alonzo Foster would still be swimming and enjoying more Ozark outings with his friends and family. Others must have know that Sesena-Murrieta was in the U.S illegally. How did he get here and from whom or how did he obtain the handgun which has yet to be recovered? In closing, Our prayers are with Alonzo Foster's family and friends.

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