MICHELLE A. FOX
HOBBS NEWS-SUN
Did Evelyn Warden, 33, of Hobbs shoot and kill Julius Morro, 44, in Nadine on April 10, 2008?
That is the question jurors will have to decide.
Warden’s trial for second-degree murder and tampering with evidence began Tuesday in District Judge William Shoobridge’s courtroom.
If convicted, Warden faces 18 years in prison.
“On April 10 last year, the defendant shot and killed Julius Morro,” said Assistant District Attorney Vernon Henning during his opening statement. “He was shot in the right shoulder and, through a particular twist of fate, it went through his heart, and he died.”
Henning went on to tell jurors testimony would show Warden ran into the house where the car Morro was shot in was parked yelling, “I shot him, I shot him.”
Defense attorney Jon Fredlund told jurors they would have to decide through testimony whether Warden said, “I shot him” or “He’s been shot.”
“Who is motivated to claim she said, ‘I shot him’”? Fredlund asked.
After testimony began, a witness, Becky Johnson, testified after Morro had been shot, Warden came into the house saying “He’s been shot.”
“Evelyn came in with the gun and was saying, ‘He’s shot,’” Johnson said.
Johnson also testified that she did not hear anything, including a gunshot, until Warden screamed her name.
None of the people at the house at Nadine who testified Tuesday stated they heard a gunshot.
“You couldn’t hear anything in the house,” said Anthony Tabares, who testified Tuesday.
Charles Dickinson testified he never heard anyone scream Johnson’s name while he was in the house with Tabares, Johnson and another subject, Jeremy Goff.
“I never heard a female scream,” Dickinson said. “I never heard a gunshot.”
And while Tabares testified that he heard Warden say, “I shot him. I shot him,” Dickinson said Warden said “He’s shot.”
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 from a gunshot wound.
The trial continues today.
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