MICHELLE FOX
NEWS-SUN
After nearly five hours of deliberation, the jury in the second-degree murder trial of Evelyn Warden, 36, of Hobbs went home Wednesday without reaching a verdict.
The deliberations will continue today in District Judge William Shoobridge's court.
Along with the second-degree murder charge, Warden faced a charge of tampering with evidence in the April 10, 2008, shooting death of 44-year-old Julius Morro.
In a directed verdict, however, Shoobridge dismissed the tampering with evidence charge.
Shoobridge cited a lack of direct evidence showing Warden took the gun from the scene of the shooting in Nadine with the intent of hiding it.
Before the jury was allowed to begin deciding Warden's guilt or innocence, jurors heard testimony from one prosecution witness and one witness for the defense.
After the prosecution rested, Warden took the stand in her own defense. Warden cried during her testimony as she recounted the events that led up to the shooting death of Morro.
She testified that on more than one occasion, Morro had threatened to kill her. Because of this, Warden was trying to leave New Mexico.
“I wanted to leave town because I was scared,” Warden said during her testimony Wednesday.
Warden testified that on the night of the shooting, she was in a vehicle with Morro and she had a gun. That night, as had happened before, according to Warden, Morro threatened her.
“He was mad at me,” Warden said. “I was sitting there crying. He asked me to smoke a bowl with him because he didn't want us to leave it like that.”
After the two had smoked methamphetamine together, Warden told Morro she was going to Mississippi to patch things up with her husband.
“He grabbed my arm and he said, ‘No, you're not. You are not leaving here,’” Warden said.
At this point, Warden testified, Morro had hold of her arm and Jeremy Goff, Morro's nephew, got into the car. After Goff asked what was going on, Morro told Goff to kill Warden, she testified.
“Jeremy picked up the gun and shoved it in my mouth,” Warden said.
Following an exchange between Morro and Goff, Goff removed the gun from Warden's mouth and it went off, shooting and killing Morro.
During his testimony for the prosecution, however, Goff said not only did he not shoot Morro, he never had the gun.
“We were sitting there talking (at Warden’s Nadine home), and we all heard Evelyn screaming,” Goff said. “She was saying she had shot him (Morro) and someone needed to go check on him.”
Defense attorney Jon Fredlund asked Goff at what point did he bring the gun back to the scene?
“I never had that gun,” Goff said.
Warden was arrested April 11, 2008, after an investigation that led Hobbs Police and Sheriff's department officers to the 7600 block of South Eunice Highway in Nadine.
Upon arrival, officers found Morro dead.
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