Testimony Retold In Second Boy’s Murder Trial Sanchez Says He Shot At Transient, But Evidence Doesn’t Indicate If They Were The Fatal Shots

Twelve-year-old Manuel Sanchez slumped in his chair and fidgeted through most of the opening day of his first-degree murder trial in the shooting death of a migrant worker last summer.

Nine police officers and the coroner testified Monday in Chelan County Juvenile Court as Sanchez went on trial for the slaying of Emilio Pruneda, who was shot more than 18 times Aug. 20 near his makeshift campsite on the banks of the Columbia River.

Most of the testimony was identical to that given during the trial for Sanchez’s co-defendant, John Duncan, also 12 and of Wenatchee. Duncan was convicted Monday of first-degree murder in the slaying. He could be sent to a detention center until he is 21 when he is sentenced Jan. 20.

Sanchez’s case is being heard by Judge John Bridges, who also presided over Duncan’s trial.

In statements to police, both boys acknowledged shooting Pruneda. But Duncan said he reloaded two guns, then stood over the wounded man and emptied the bullets from both guns into Pruneda’s body.

The boys said Pruneda threw rocks at them after they fired too close to him with guns they had stolen that afternoon and taken to the river to play with. One of the rocks bloodied Sanchez’s chin.

Sgt. Doug Tangen of the Wenatchee Police Department testified he arrived at the scene to find Sanchez crouched near railroad tracks at the top of an embankment. Duncan ran up to the top of the embankment shortly afterward, looking pale and shaken, Tangen said.

“I didn’t see the same emotion (in Sanchez) as I did in John Duncan,” Tangen said. “He appeared somewhat removed.”

After questioning Duncan, Tangen said he then asked Sanchez what had happened.

“I asked him whether he’d shot at the victim,” Tangen said. “He said he’d shot several times and remembered the victim falling down towards the water.”

Officer Homer Ramirez testified that he took Sanchez’s statement that night.

In the statement, Sanchez said he and Duncan were shooting at trees when he heard a man yell “Hey!” toward them.

“We walked down towards the man and John said, ‘You got my back?’ I asked why. He said, ‘Because I got yours,”’ Sanchez said in the statement.

The boys then started shooting into the bushes to locate Pruneda, who yelled every time they shot him, Sanchez said.

“We split up and John said, ‘Let’s find him,”’ Sanchez said. “The man threw a rock, hit me and I shot twice. I do not know in what direction I shot after I got hit. I ran to the top of the bank and I said, ‘This guy should die.’ John ran down the bank, shot and returned. John said, ‘I got him.”’

Coroner Gerald Rappe testified that Pruneda died from a cluster of five gunshot wounds to the chest, three of which pierced the heart. “There were no signs he was defending himself,” Rappe said.

On questioning from defense attorney Tom Caballero, Rappe testified there was no evidence that more than one person shot and wounded Pruneda.

None of the police officers at the scene could say he had seen Sanchez handling any of the three guns found.