Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
As part of an alibi defense, the fiancee of a Milford man testified Wednesday that Arnol Ortiz was with her the night of a robbery he was accused of committing and a Kosciusko Circuit Court jury acquitted him of the charge.
Ortiz, 23, of Milford, also took the stand in his own defense and told jurors he couldn't remember if he was in Bud's Bar on Jan. 20, 2000, but he agreed with the testimony of his fiancee, Laurie Garza, that he was in bed at their residence at 1 a.m. Jan. 21, 2000.
Edward Hart, 46, of Milford, was attacked and robbed about 3:30 a.m. Jan. 21, 2000, near the intersection of James and Catherine streets in Milford. He suffered a wound to his head in the attack and had his wallet ripped from his pants. Police recovered the pocket of Hart's pants, a broken beer bottle and a ratchet handle at the scene of the crime.
Speaking in a Hispanic accent, Ortiz - a native of Honduras - said he felt threatened when Milford Deputy Marshal Rich Miotto came to his home in the middle of the night on March 10, 2000, and told him to come with him for questioning. Ortiz testified he didn't think he had a choice in the matter.
"He didn't ask me to go with him, he told me to go with him," Ortiz said. He also said he was afraid of Miotto because he had gotten into a "scuff" with him before. "He came to my house before and he pushed me and I fall down to the sofa," Ortiz testified. "I think he pushed my wife, too, so I'm scared of him."
When asked during direct questioning by defense attorney David Kolbe, Ortiz told jurors he didn't have anything to do with Hart's injuries that morning. "No, it's a sad story ... but, no, I didn't," Ortiz said. "I can be anything, but not a thief. My father taught me how to be a decent man."
Kolbe said there is no question that someone attacked Hart, "but we don't know who." He said that Hart's level of intoxication - he had a blood-alcohol level of .296 percent two hours after the attack - may have left him confused and Kolbe suggested that Hart remembered the faces of Ortiz and his co-defendant, Armando Garza, from being in the bar, but that those weren't the men who attacked him.
During his closing argument, Kolbe told jurors to consider the evidence that wasn't presented by the prosecution during the two-day trial.
Kolbe said there were no fingerprints on the items retrieved from the scene; no confessions from Ortiz or Garza; no eyewitnesses, except Hart; no search warrant executed in an attempt to locate the alleged stolen wallet and contents or to determine whether Ortiz had other tools matching the one used in the crime; no proof of products from the robbery; no proof of a vehicle description or tire tracks; no proof of neighbors seeing anything (Kolbe said police only went to one house in the residential area); and no motive - all of the men reportedly got along fine at the bar and with chitchat taking place among them.
The eight-man, four-woman jury deliberated more than three hours before returning the not guilty verdict on the Class B felony charge of robbery causing bodily injury.
Charges remain pending against Garza, who is expected to go on trial in June.
