San Jose
– A jury will continue deciding today whether a Santa Clara man
is guilty of murdering former Hollister resident Dolores
”
Dee
”
Gonzales, whose dismembered body authorities found more than two
years ago.
San Jose – A jury will continue deciding today whether a Santa Clara man is guilty of murdering former Hollister resident Dolores “Dee” Gonzales, whose dismembered body authorities found more than two years ago.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers finished closing arguments in San Jose on Monday in the trial of Gonzales’ then-boyfriend, 48-year-old Alexandre Hochstraser. Hochstraser is accused of first-degree murder in Gonzales’ death.
Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Ted Kajani, who led the prosecution, argued that Hochstraser beat Gonzales to death while she lay sleeping in the morning hours of June 5, 2005. Kajani attested that Hochstraser thought out how to dispose of Gonzales’ body.
The defense attorney acknowledged Hochstraser bludgeoned Gonzalez but contended it wasn’t premeditated.
A first-degree murder charge requires willingness to kill, premeditation and deliberation.
Santa Clara police officers said they found Gonzales’ remains in a Volkswagen Jetta on June 5, 2005. Officers arrested Hochstraser, who was living with Gonzales, later that evening on suspicion of murder.
More than two dozen of Gonzales’ family members and friends were at the Santa Clara County Superior Courthouse to hear closing arguments. Many of Gonzales’ family members wore silver pins bearing the letter ‘D.’
Family members declined to comment until after the jury delivers a verdict.
“We don’t want to do anything that’s going to hinder justice,” said Beatrice Gonzales-Ramirez, Gonzales’ 44-year-old sister.
Kajani, the prosecutor, argued that Hochstraser had a dark side and had considered using violence to end his relationship with not only Gonzales, but also his ex-wife.
“We know the defendant thought about killing Dee for some time,” Kajani said. “When things weren’t going well, he thought about violence.”
During his closing argument, Kajani showed photos of five bins in which Gonzales’ dismembered body parts were found. They showed deep gashes in Gonzales’ head. Some photos were explicit images of her severed body parts in the bins.
“This is not something you do to someone you love,” Kajani said.
Hochstraser’s attorney, Kenneth W. Robinson, argued that Gonzales was not asleep and had punched his client the morning of June 5, 2005, because he refused to take her to a beauty appointment. Robinson said Gonzales punched Hochstraser in the face, knocking off his glasses and leaving him nearly blind. He argued Hochstraser’s reaction was not planned.
“The whole thing took 10 seconds,” Robinson said. “It was quick. It happened.”
The attorney also argued that evidence was mishandled during the case. Robinson said that a girdle Gonzales typically put on when she awoke had been misplaced by authorities.
“If she was wearing a girdle, she was awake,” Robinson said.
Holding up a piece of black clothing in the courtroom, Kajani said all evidence was present and that a garment cut off of Gonzales’ body was the girdle to which Robinson was referring.
“Nothing, absolutely nothing, is missing,” Kajani said.
The prosecutor argued that the defendant took time to think through the murder, spending the night awake in the couple’s living room before bludgeoning Gonzales four times with a heavy object.
“By his own testimony, he was up on that couch all night,” Kajani said. “He had all night to think about it.”
Robinson urged the jury during his closing argument to consider what state of mind Hochstraser was in when he hit Gonzales with the object, not how the victim was found.
“What he did was outrageous, atrocious and nobody condones this,” Robinson said as Hochstraser wept in the courtroom Monday afternoon.
The jury meets today at 9am to continue deliberations.
