El Paso Police on the stand in Mailland trial

El Paso News

The lead detective in the Marcelo Mailland trial took the stand today in court. Mailland is accused of murdering Christian Jorjorian in West El Paso in 2016. 

On Tuesday, the defense spent a good part of the morning questioning the lead detective, Adrian Garcia, trying to poke holes in the investigation.

Mailland’s defense attorney Mary Stallinger questioned Detective Garcia and asked him to use chairs to reenact how he believes the victim was shot while trying to escape an SUV.

The defense tried to show it was possible for the other suspect in the case, Marco Nava, was the actual triggerman, not Mailland. 

Detective Garcia said he doesn’t think that would’ve been possible since Nava was in the backseat. 

“If that was the case, they’d find a bullet casing outside and they didn’t,” Garcia testified, saying he didn’t believe that claim.

The defense also exhibited photos from the victim’s home after police searched it. They showed pictures of what appeared to be a knife and two different types of guns. 

Garcia said those were not collected into evidence becuase they had no reason to believe it was necessary. 

In the afternoon, the state prosecutor James Montoya said he expects the prosecution to rest by noon on Wednesday.
