Suspect in killing of soldier wants charges dismissed
The girlfriend of the man accused of killing Army Spc. Vanessa Guillén has asked a federal judge in Waco to dismiss all allegations against her, which involve a con- spiracy to help him hide the slain soldier’s mutilated body.
Her lawyer says the charges are “woefully deficient,” vague and not grounded in evidence.
Guillén, an Army mechanic who was a track star at Houston’s César E. Chavez High School, was killed while on active duty at Fort Hood. Community activism surrounding her disappearance and death prompted the Army to clean house and reexamine how it handles allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. Her family is working with lawmakers to pass federal legislation in her name that would expand these concepts on a broader level.
The federal public defenders representing Cecily Ann Aguilar argued in court documents Tuesday that the Justice Department prosecutor did “not include sufficient factual allegations,” despite formal requests by defense counsel that they be articulated.
Public defender Maureen Scott Franco and supervisory assistant public defender Lewis B. Gaynor said the indictment “is shockingly bereft of factual detail from which Ms. Aguilar might be apprised of the charges against her.”
Justice Department officials in Waco declined to comment on the motion.
Guillén’s sister Mayra said her family is disappointed by Aguilar’s request. They have been “waiting anxiously” for more information about her death and hoping “to finally know the truth if it is ever given to us.”
If there’s more the Guillén family doesn’t know and Aguilar knows it, the slain soldier’s sister said, “Why not do the right thing and
speak and not make this harder for herself and my family?”
In March, Aguilar’s defense lawyers asked the court to exclude her confession to law enforcement, saying that officers obtained it without informing his client of her Miranda rights. That motion will be heard on May 25.
In their latest motion, defense lawyers say the government vaguely states Aguilar obstructed an “official event,” without specifying what it means. Her lawyers also say the prosecution has incorrectly applied a law about destroying a “record, document or object” to the destruction of a human body.
Based on Aguilar’s confession to investigators, Mayra Guillén said, Aguilar kept quiet for months and didn’t tell officials about the killing when her boyfriend disclosed to her what had happened.
“It’s very saddening to my family that Cecily Aguilar is given hope to be ‘free’ after what she did,” she said. “I just don’t understand how someone gives a statement to the law and then wants to take it back like it’s a game.”
Aguilar, 22, of Killeen, was charged on July 2 with one count of conspiracy to destroy evidence and two counts of destroying evidence. She is in custody pending trial.
Investigators believe she aided Spc. Aaron Robinson conceal Guillén’s remains last April in an attempt to stave off the investigation of her death.