Relative of Othello murder victims disrupts trial

Opening statements in a double-murder trial were disrupted Friday when a relative of the victims told the defendant that only God can judge him.

Prudencio Juan Fragos-Ramirez, 26, is accused of shooting his girlfriend and her son and setting fire to their car in northern Franklin County.

Maria Cruz-Calvillo, 18, and Luis Lopez-Cruz, 3, are believed to have died from gunshot wounds before flames consumed the vehicle.

After taking four days to select a jury, attorneys presented their sides of the case Friday afternoon to the 14-member panel.

It was while defense attorney Scott Johnson was playing a two-minute, drone-captured video showing different rural areas relevant to the case that Arturo Cruz-Calvillo took advantage of the silence.

“Juan, Juan,” said Cruz-Calvillo, trying to get the defendant’s attention. Cruz-Calvillo was seated in the front row in the gallery.

Bailiff Staci Vannoy called for a recess, as sheriff’s Detective Steve Warren joined the officer in creating a wall while trying to get Cruz-Calvillo to be quiet.

But Cruz-Calvillo – the brother and uncle of the victims – wouldn’t stop talking in Spanish.

So Vannoy quickly got the jury out of the courtroom and Superior Court Judge Carrie Runge left the bench. A resistant Cruz-Calvillo then was escorted out of the courtroom by a corrections officer and Warren.

He was jailed and released after being cited for obstructing law enforcement.

Back in session 17 minutes later, Deputy Prosecutor Brian Hultgrenn said he’d been told by court interpreters that Cruz-Calvillo kept repeating how God will judge Fragos-Ramirez.