Although the article does not state that the accused is an illegal alien, I remember when he was arrested and it was stated then.
Man accused in death of 9-year-old rejects plea deal
By Miguel Liscano | Monday, February 1, 2010, 03:55 PM
A Williamson County man accused of sexually assaulting and killing a 9-year-old girl at her Cedar Park home last year rejected a plea agreement today and will face trial on capital murder charges.
Rone Nuñez, pictured at right, was indicted in August on six counts, including capital murder and super-aggravated sexual assault of a child, in connection with the April 25 death of Cecilia Margarita Izquierdo-Vallina.
The indictment said Nuñez, who is a Honduran national, slashed Cecilia’s throat with a “knife or unknown object, in the course of committing or attempting to commit aggravated sexual assault or kidnapping.”
In Judge Billy Ray Stubblefield’s courtroom today, Nuñez rejected a deal to plead guilty to super-aggravated sexual assault in exchange for life without the possibility of parole.
A trial date was set for September, and the D.A.’s office said it has not ruled out seeking the death penalty as it does in some capital murder cases.
Nuñez rented a room in the house in the 2100 block of East Riviera Drive and lived with the girl’s family, but he was not related to family members, officials said.
Cedar Park police initially said Cecilia was accidentally electrocuted when family members found her unresponsive in the backyard about 3:30 p.m.
Investigators at the scene found burns on Cecilia’s neck, right arm, torso and her right leg, Cedar Park Police Chief Henry Fluck has said.
Detectives also found a small pile of charred material smoldering next to her, he said.
Fluck said investigators did notice a wound on Cecilia’s neck. But he said he could not explain, without discussing details and possibly compromising the case, why those investigators initially said it appeared to be an accident. Generally speaking, he said, victims of electrocution burns typically show entry and exit wounds.
“From the onset, the Cedar Park Police Department investigated this as a homicide and investigated all aspects of this incident,” Fluck said. District Attorney John Bradley later asked the Texas Rangers to join the investigation.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...of_9yearo.html