Jury fails to reach verdict in Manuel Sanchez murder case in Carlsbad District Court
A 12-person jury was unable to reach a verdict if Manuel Sanchez was guilty or innocent of the 2014 murder of Brian Runnels, after deliberating for almost six hours Monday in Fifth Judicial District Court in Carlsbad.
Sanchez faced a charge each of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence as police said he fatally shot Runnels and buried the body in a desert area on the edge of Carlsbad.
During the sixth day of the trial, which was originally planned to end Friday but was extended a day by District Judge Jane Shuler Gray, the jury heard closing arguments from the prosecution and the defense before being excused to deliberate.
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Here’s how the murder trial against Manuel Sanchez concluded after six days
Jury returns 'split verdict,' majority lean toward not guilty
The jury’s foreperson reported a split of eight votes for not guilty and four votes for guilty, agreeing with Shuler Gray that the group was “hopelessly deadlocked.”
“I’m disappointed in they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict,” said defense attorney Lisa Torraco as the trial concluded. “I’m encouraged the majority of the split was for not guilty.”
Following the jury’s answer, Fifth Judicial District Attorney Dianna Luce said the State would retry the case, meaning new evidence or witnesses could be added.
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Luce declined to comment further on the case as it remained pending.
Torraco said after the court went into recess that the state relied heavily on the testimony of Brett Roark, who confessed to police that he helped Sanchez bury the body and watched him shoot Runnels.
Roark faces charges identical to Sanchez’s, and his trial is scheduled for February 2024.
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“The evidence was overwhelming for not guilty,” Torraco continued. “The only evidence that pointed to guilt was the unreliable testimony of Brett Roark.”
A date for the retrial was yet to be set.
Evidence was ‘consistent’ that Sanchez shot Runnels, State says
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Luce in her closing arguments began by describing Runnels as well-liked and a dependable worker on the property where he lived and was allegedly murdered in the 2400 block of E. Green St.
She reminded the jury that after he was allegedly murdered on the night of Oct. 16, 2014, it took days before anyone reported Runnels missing.
And it was Cynthia Appling, daughter of the property’s owner Thomas “Ace” Appling who made that call, Luce argued, not Sanchez who told police he was friends with Runnels.
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She described for the jury how Carlsbad Police Detective Tim Nyce reopened the case in about 2020, after Runnels was missing for six years, and evidence led him to Sanchez and Roark, who were never interviewed after the initial disappearance.
It was in an interview with Nyce that Luce said Roark confessed to seeing Sanchez shoot Runnels in the camper where Runnels lived, then order Roark to help him drive the body out into the desert and bury it in a grave about four feet deep.
Roark also said from the stand that Sanchez threatened to kill him if he refused to help or told anyone about the shooting.
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Luce described Roark’s demeanor as “nervous” when he was at the witness stand and pointed to his denial of knowing Sanchez in earlier meetings with Nyce.
“That’s important. Manuel Sanchez had threatened him,” she said. “He was consistent that Manuel shot through the doorway, killing Brian Runnels.”
Signs of shooting, beating, align with testimony, prosecutor argues
Bullet holes discovered in the camper also lined up with Roark’s story, Luce said, as they proved, she said, that a high-caliber rifle fired through the camper but only after striking something else before going through the wall.
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“I submit to you that something else was Brian Runnels,” Luce said.
No evidence of bullet wounds was found on Runnels’ skeletal remains recovered from the burial site, but experts said a bullet could have struck a fleshy area and passed through without hitting bone.
Luce also pointed to an autopsy of the recovered skeletal remains, which were tied to Runnels by genetic testing, showing skull fractures originating on the left side of Runnels’ head but spreading to the right side.
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Luce said expert witnesses testified during the trial that this meant the right side of Runnels’ skull was “against something” when he was struck, consistent with Roark’s testimony that Sanchez hit Runnels in the head with a shovel after he was shot and laying on the ground.
“The skull had to be against something to have that pressure,” she said. “It could have been one massive impact.”
That Sanchez and Roark both walked down to the camper from Appling’s man house illustrated the intent and that the defendant had time to think about the crime ahead of the shooting, Luce said, warranting the first-degree murder charge.
More: Trial for man accused of killing missing Carlsbad man starts Monday. Here's what to know.
Multiple calls allegedly made by Sanchez to Ernest Copetillo for help in dismembering the body, she said, displayed intent to tamper with evidence.
And she went back to the testimony of Roark, who both sides described as “slow” and “easily led.”
“He (Roark) told you consistently that Manny shot him,” Luce said. “Brett Roark held that in for a long time. We ask you to return verdicts of guilty on both counts.”
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Defense contradicts State’s version of events that led to murder
Torraco started her closing argument by reminding the jurors they are not instructed to choose the better story but decide if the State proved Sanchez was guilty.
“The entire case is about did the State prove it,” she said. “It’s not an election. I’m going to tell you why they didn’t.”
Torraco first began by contradicting the State’s argument that Runnels was well-liked at the Appling property, arguing testimony from Cynthia Appling, who ran payroll for the workers, showed the victim frequently took out paycheck advances and owed money.
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She said the time lapse between the disappearance and missing person’s report also did not follow the State’s characterization of Runnels’ relationship with others at the property where he managed water sales.
“If he was really liked and important at that water tower, it should have been noticed immediately,” she said. “Brian Runnels owed Ace money. He wasn’t allowed to take out loans.”
Throughout her argument, Torraco suggested Roark’s story was intended to shift blame from someone else at the property, or elsewhere, to her client.
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She was critical of the autopsy evidence that Torraco called misleading and emphasized that analysis of the bones showed no gunshot wound.
A ‘flawed’ investigation?
She also questioned the integrity of the police investigation, and Nyce’s meetings with Roark where Torraco said Roark was “manipulated” into giving an untrue story.
“He (Nyce) practically told him (Roark), ‘You’re the good guy. Manny’s the bad guy,” Torraco said to the jury. “That was very skilled manipulation.”
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Notably, Roark declined to identify Sanchez in the courtroom, telling prosecutors he didn’t remember what Sanchez looked like.
He agreed with Torraco during cross examination that he didn’t know anything about the clean-up of the body and had been “guessing” during interviews and testimony.
Torraco cited these as other examples of Roark’s unreliability as a witness as she sought to exonerate her client.
“They are resting their entire first-degree murder case on someone who is not the sharpest tool, and is guessing,” she said. “He has an inconsistent story. Brian Runnels died of blunt force trauma. That’s what we know.”
She said Sanchez was the wrong suspect for the killing of Runnels and asked the jury to direct the State to find out who did it.
“We don’t have the right killer,” Torraco said. “This is tragic. It’s tragic that Brian is dead, and nobody knows who killed him. Please redirect the investigation to find the person who did the blunt force trauma, because Manny didn’t shoot him.”
Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Mistrial declared in Manuel Sanchez murder case
