A jury was seated and opening statements were made this week in a cold case trial for an Arizona man accused of shooting and killing an Ignacio man more than 15 years ago.
David Hendren, 39, is being tried for the death of Larry Fuller, 49, who died after being shot on Jan. 1, 2009.
Fuller had been celebrating the new year at the Sidekick Lounge in downtown Ignacio with family and friends. At 1:35 a.m. he left the bar alone and on foot after breaking up a fight between two women in his family.
Less than an hour after his departure, his stepson, Chris Madril, found him collapsed in front of a Baptist church on Goddard Avenue in Ignacio. Madril said he watched Fuller take his last breath.
It was not until first responders arrived that the gunshot wound was discovered.
Hendren was arrested in connection with the murder in 2023 after witnesses came forward almost 14 years after the case went cold.
Angel Garcia, friend of Hendren, told Phoenix police years after the murder that he saw Hendren shoot Fuller.
The ex-wife of Hendren’s brother also came forward years later, saying Hendren had admitted to shooting someone hours after Fuller’s murder.
Opening statements began shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday after 12 jurors were seated. Jury selection took two days.
The case is being prosecuted by deputy district attorney Brad Neagos and former 6th Judicial District Attorney Christian Champagne.
In his opening statements, Champagne argued Hendren left the Sidekick Lounge with Garcia, intending to murder Bo Watts, the man who had beaten up his brother at the Sidekick Lounge earlier that evening.
He said they left to find Watts in Garcia’s red truck, and instead of shooting Watts, he shot Fuller.
It would be easy to mistake one man for the other as they were both of similar height and build, Champagne said. He also drew attention to their near-identical haircuts at the time of the shooting.
The side-by-side images the prosecution displayed as evidence elicited muffled sobs from the gallery.
During the initial investigation, law enforcement could not land on any suspects because no one had any motive to kill Fuller, the prosecution said. He was well liked and no one in the community harbored resentments against him.
The prosecution said that is where the investigation went cold until two people with no connection to each other changed their statements.
Defense attorneys Beale Tejada and Brent Owen are representing Hendren.
In their opening statement, Owen said Hendren did not commit the murder, arguing that the state’s theory does not match the evidence.
He said police officers stationed outside the lounge on Jan. 1 saw Fuller leave but did not report a red truck pacing him.
He also said that on the night Fuller was shot he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a lei, while Watts had on a red shirt. The differences in their clothing made them easy to differentiate from one another.
The defense also questioned the reliability of witnesses who testified against Hendren and their ability to give accurate information of events that occurred years ago.
Owen suggested Garcia may have provided law enforcement with falsified information to avoid returning to prison.
“There is no doubt Larry Fuller’s death is a tragedy, but that does not mean David Hendren did it,” Owen said before informing the jury they would ask them to acquit at the end of the trial.
Following opening statements, the prosecution called their first witnesses to the stand, several of whom were Fuller’s close family that were with him in the hours leading up to his death.
His stepchildren recounted the events of the evening to the best of their ability and praised Fuller’s character.
Fuller’s stepdaughter, Monyca Escalante, was teary-eyed and soft-spoken as she spoke about her close relationship with Fuller.
She said he was a kind man and a great dad.
Those thoughts were shared by her brother, Madril.
“He was my best friend, my dad,” he said.
Hendren is charged with first-degree murder.
District Judge Kim Shropshire is presiding over the case in the 6th Judicial District Court in La Plata County. The trial is expected to conclude Feb. 21.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
