Grain Valley teen found guilty

Eddie George, the 18-year-old Grain Valley man who helped plot the murder of his best friend’s parents, will serve life in prison without parole for the stabbing death of Pamela Marquez in July 2006.

Jurors at the 16th Circuit Court in Independence deliberated less than four hours Thursday afternoon, delivering the guilty verdicts for first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and first-degree assault. A charge of motor theft was dropped.

Jurors also deliberated for about two hours on sentencing terms for the three additional charges, recommending life in prison for one count of armed criminal action, 30 years for the second charge and 15 years for first-degree assault on Joe Marquez, Pamela’s husband.

Eddie’s friend, Taylor Marquez, goes on trial in August on the same charges in the attack on his parents.

Prosecutors say Eddie and Taylor planned to kill the couple on July 15, 2006 in the Marquez home in Grain Valley. Eddie George tried to cut Joe’s throat in the basement of the home. Following a struggle, Joe seized the butcher knife from Eddie, who then ran upstairs, grabbed a steak knife and stabbed Pamela seven times until she was dead.

Prosecutors convinced jurors that George committed the crime, relying in part on DNA testing that showed blood found on two knives – one in the bedroom and another in the kitchen – matched that of George’s type. Also, an hour-long videotape of police questioning shows George confessing to the murder and agreeing to help Taylor Marquez murder the couple.

“He had the choice to not be a murderer,”  special prosecutor Mike Hunt told jurors on Thursday. “He asks, ‘Do I want to be a (expletive), or do I want to be a murderer?’ He wanted to be a murderer.”

Both Hunt and special prosecutor Tim Dollar emphasized that first-degree murder means not necessarily pre-meditation but rather the thought, no matter how brief, of carrying out an act that would cause the death of another. On two occasions, Hunt snapped his fingers to the jury to illustrate.

“If you aid, encourage or assist in a murder, it’s as if you had the knife in your hand,” Dollar said.

Defense attorney John Picerno told jurors there were compelling reasons to not find George guilty. He questioned why blood contact marks found on Taylor’s shorts and shoes were not tested and why police didn’t tape the initial hour of questioning in which George initially confessed to the killing.

Picerno said George grabbed the second knife in the kitchen because Joe, a U.S. district attorney, was downstairs with a butcher knife – not because he wanted to kill Pamela.

“When George grabs that (second) knife, there’s no thought in his head,” Picerno said. “Pam was supposed to be dead, and Taylor was supposed to have killed his mom.”

Instead, Picerno said, George grabbed the second knife to defend himself against Joe, a statement argued by Dollar, who said George had the choice to defend himself by simply leaving the house.

“And he chose to kill,” Dollar said.

 And while Picerno conceded that George attacked Pam after he entered the bedroom, he said there was no proof offered in testimony that his actions killed her.

During that attack, Taylor was supposed to have had a steak knife of his own, Picerno said, which was later found outside but only had traces of Pam’s blood on it.

“Is there any evidence that shows Eddie grabbed two steak knives? None.”

Picerno moved back to the video tape.

“We don’t know how many times Eddie stabbed her,” Picerno said, adding that George himself appears confused on the tape about how many times he plunged the knife into her. He said there was no evidence displaying which of the seven wounds was the killing blow or which of the two steak knives was used to kill her.

“Maybe he did (kill her), maybe he didn’t,” Picerno argued. “It’s not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Picerno compared the personality types and former incidents involving Taylor, who was described as having anger and discipline problems; of playing the game “What if you killed your parents?” Other incidents showed Taylor Marquez shoving his mother and talking back to her; another incident showed him pulling a knife on his adopted father and telling people that he was done and wanted them dead. He said George exhibited no such traits.

George’s parents were in the courtroom but left without commenting.

Following the verdict, Dollar said the last two years has been incredibly difficult for Joe Marquez but that “justice was accomplished.”

Dollar, who will also prosecute Taylor Marquez, said the August trial will involve different witnesses and different evidence, some of which will overlap with what was presented this week.

As to the motive for the killing?

 “I don’t know if there was one,” Dollar said. “It was a senseless murder. There is no real explanation.”