Accomplice in killing balks at testimony

Baldomero Nuñez took 40 years in prison to escape a possible death sentence. But he may want out of the deal.

Nuñez pleaded no contest last year to the murder and robbery of Latin American grocery owner Isis Laffitte in April 2002. He received the lesser sentence in exchange for his agreement to testify against co-defendant Ernesto Mireles.

Mireles, 25, of Bonita Springs, remains charged with capital murder and is set for a July 10 trial. When Mireles’ attorney went to the Collier County jail to interview Nuñez in what’s called a pretrial deposition, Nuñez wouldn’t allow it.

“He refused to answer any questions about the case until he has talked to an attorney, whom he hasn’t met,” Mireles’ Fort Myers attorney, John Mills, said Tuesday in a hearing in Collier County Circuit Court.

Nuñez was unhappy with the plea agreement and displeased with his now-former court-appointed attorney, Jeff Quinn. Nuñez’s brother and co-defendant, Salvador, took his case to trial and lost. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. A third co-defendant, Oscar Luna, took the plea offer once it was offered and received a 20-year prison term.

Mills told Senior Judge William Blackwell that Nuñez originally told him he “didn’t want to get involved” at all. Now Nuñez is saying he’ll agree to the deposition, but he wants to talk to an attorney first.

“So we have a co-defendant who’s supposed to testify against my client, but he’s refusing to allow us to take his deposition,” Mills said.

A deposition would serve as notice of what Nuñez would be expected to say during the trial so the attorneys can prepare a defense, if there is one. Mireles is accused of pulling the trigger, killing Laffitte, 66, during the robbery. The other three men helped hold up the grocery, and Salvador Nuñez served as the getaway car driver.

Because of Nuñez’s refusal to allow a deposition, Mills wanted Blackwell to strike him from the prosecution witness list, which would mean he wouldn’t testify. Blackwell refused and appointed Miguel Fernandez III, a Fort Myers criminal defense attorney, to meet with Nuñez and “keep the case on track,” the judge said.

Assistant State Attorney Mike Provost, who’s prosecuting the case, said he wants the court-appointed attorney to “tell him the facts of life.”

“His plea was conditional on his agreement to testify. If he refuses, we’ll withdraw the plea and take this one to trial, too. I just think he needs someone to go down to the jail and explain that to him,” Provost said.

Nuñez would face the same dilemma he had before he took the plea, with Luna ready to testify against him. The evidence in the case was strong enough to convict his brother, a fact the defense attorneys pointed out to all three remaining co-defendants when the lawyers encouraged them to plead.

Mireles could face the death penalty or life imprisonment if he’s convicted.

The four men made off with a few thousand dollars in the April 17, 2002, robbery at the U.S. 41 East grocery store, according to testimony in Salvador Nuñez’s trial. Laffitte was shot when she followed the men outside to swipe the money away. She confronted Mireles, who was holding the bag, and was shot in the neck.