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In article <35BD691C.4079@swbell.net>, tracey12@swbell.net says...

uly 22, 1998

Witness: Wyatt slain because she was white

BY BUTCH MABIN

Lincoln Journal Star

Enraged over an earlier encounter with white people and high on drugs,
Hector Gonzales viciously lashed out at
Katherine Wyatt, brutally stabbing the 38-year-old Near South resident
17 times, according to testimony Tuesday.

Angelo D. Hughes, who befriended Gonzales while the two men were
incarcerated in the Lancaster County Jail last year,
testified Gonzales, who is Hispanic, told him that Wyatt was murdered
because she was white. "He was just mad at some
white people," Hughes, 24, said in Lancaster County District Court. "He
said he was out to kill a white person."

Gonzales, who now uses the surname Olivias, apparently had not seen
Wyatt before the random attack. Hughes is now
incarcerated at the Nebraska State Penitentiary on forgery convictions.
He said he did not know the circumstances of
Gonzales' earlier racial confrontation. He testified Gonzales was under
the influence of drugs when he killed Wyatt near 20th
and D streets July 16, 1997. "I asked him if he'd do it again," Hughes
said. "He said no. He kept saying ..=A4. he said he was
crazy."

Gonzales, 32, attacked Wyatt as she took an evening walk near her home
in the Near South neighborhood. Lancaster County
Coroner Matthias Okoye testified Wyatt's multiple stab wounds included
three deep wounds to her liver, lungs and heart. Any
one of the three deep wounds could have been fatal, Okoye said. "Is
'overkill' applicable" in Wyatt's death?" County Attorney
Gary Lacey asked. "Yes," Okoye responded.

Gonzales has already pleaded guilty to Wyatt's death. He has also
pleaded no contest to the attempted first-degree sexual
assault of a 12-year-old girl. Gonzales confronted the girl on a
sidewalk close to her home near 25th and L streets shortly
before he attacked Wyatt.

Because Gonzales confessed to the murder in open court, his attorneys,
deputy county public defenders Bob Hays and Mike
Gooch, were granted a hearing to determine whether Gonzales should be
convicted of first- or second-degree murder or
manslaughter. The hearing began Monday and concluded early Tuesday
afternoon before District Judge Karen Flowers. Hays
argued in closing statements Tuesday that Lacey's office had failed to
prove Gonzales acted with the premeditation and
purposefulness necessary to get a first-degree murder conviction. He
told Flowers Okoye's own testimony that Wyatt's death
was overkill indicated an assailant who "is in a rage, out of their
mind."

Hays also attacked Hughes' testimony, arguing that no one could be sure
of Gonzales' motivation for killing Wyatt. In addition,
Hays said, Lacey failed to show that Gonzales committed felony murder -
by definition the commission of murder while
committing another felony. He said Gonzales' attempted sexual assault 
of
the girl could not be used as evidence that Gonzales
also intended to rape Wyatt. Felony murder and first-degree murder 
carry
maximum penalties of death.

As she lay bleeding from her stab wounds, a fully clothed Wyatt did not
tell passers-by someone had attempted to rape her,
but only that she had been assaulted, Hays said. "The state produced no
evidence that the attempted sexual assault on the child
means" Gonzales attempted to rape Wyatt, Hays said. But Lacey argued 
the
attacks on the child and Wyatt were similar
enough to show Gonzales had the same intent - rape - in both cases. In
both cases, Lacey said, Gonzales confronted the
victims near a street and attempted to move them to secluded areas.

While Gonzales was able to partially undress the girl, he encountered
more resistance from Wyatt, Lacey said. "Katherine
Wyatt was bigger," Lacey said. "The reason Katherine Wyatt is dead is
she was an adult female." Lacey also attacked
Hays' arguments against first-degree murder. Premeditation can occur
over a month's time, an hour or "just like that," said
Lacey, snapping his fingers. Murder is premeditated "as long as
(defendants) have the ability to think of what they want to do
and then do it," Lacey said. Flowers said at the end of closing
arguments she would render a decision at a later, unspecified
date. =

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