Prosecutors called the murder of Michael Moore a “heinous” act by Chavez Saulsberry, but his attorney told jurors the case amounted to nothing more than fiction concocted by a self-interested criminal.
Jurors needed only 90 minutes Wednesday afternoon to sort it out as they found 26-year-old Saulsberry guilty of the 2005 killing, as well as the attempted murder of a second man. Saulsberry, an Aurora native, is already serving a 55-year sentence for a separate murder conviction connected to a fatal shooting he committed as a gang initiation three weeks before Moore was gunned down.
Saulsberry, riding in a minivan with four other Latin King gang members, fired a 9-mm handgun at Moore as he drove his car on Galena Boulevard just before noon on Nov. 28, 2005. Moore was struck twice each in the head and neck, once in the cheek and once in the hand, according to trial testimony. Moore’s sister became emotional and left the courtroom during a description of the gunshot wounds on Wednesday.
The shooting, which also injured Jamarain Tuggles, a passenger in Moore’s car, was described as another chapter of violence between rival gangs in Aurora.
Saulsberry faces minimum sentences on the new convictions that mean he will never leave prison. He was 15 years old at the time of both murders. Sentencing has been scheduled for Jan. 29.
Attorneys in the case spent nearly as much time presenting their closing arguments Wednesday as jurors required to convict Saulsberry.
Assistant State’s Attorney Bianca Camargo stressed the deliberate nature of the killing, which occurred a couple of days after Tuggles got into an altercation with several Latin Kings at an Aurora barbershop.
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“This is not a case of mistaken identity,” she explained to the jury of eight men and four women. “The defendant is hunting. He is actively looking for people to shoot and kill. The defendant fired round after round into Michael Moore.”
Ezequiel Rivera – an admitted gang member who cooperated with authorities to avoid stiff charges in multiple violent crimes, including other murders – testified Tuesday that he drove his mother’s minivan with Saulsberry and other Latin Kings to the area near Aurora’s parole office when Moore and Tuggles were spotted. Rivera drove the van alongside Moore’s Oldsmobile as one man held open the vehicle’s sliding door and Saulsberry angled himself to aim toward the rival’s car. Rivera said he saw Saulsberry pointing the gun shortly before shots rang out. Aurora police recovered a total of 13 shell casings from the intersection of Galena and Smith Street. Moore’s car rolled down Galena until it collided with a tree, according to testimony.
“The defendant pulled the trigger and killed Michael Moore,” Camargo said.
Saulsberry’s attorney Ron Haskell presented only two brief witnesses as a defense before using his closing argument to challenge prosecutors for having little evidence to connect Saulsberry to the shooting beyond the word of Rivera, who he said received the “deal of the century” for his information in several cold case murders.
“His testimony has no credibility. He devised a system of lies and chose a patsy,” Haskell said. “He was willing to give the state anything and everything to save himself.”
Haskell suggested a higher-ranking Latin King had a motive for the shooting because of his involvement in the barbershop incident, but Rivera decided to pin it on the younger Saulsberry instead.
In his rebuttal, Assistant State’s Attorney Mark Stajdohar lashed back at Haskell’s interpretation of the case, noting Rivera and Roman Lucio, another Latin King who flipped, each provided authorities with similar versions of what happened in the Michael Moore shooting without being aware the other was working with law enforcement. He asked jurors to accept Rivera and Lucio for who they are as convicted felons with checkered pasts, but not to discount they were telling the truth.
“Crimes that are conceived in hell do not have angels for witnesses,” Stajdohar said. “Nobody testified (Saulsberry) didn’t do it. This is a heinous crime committed by this defendant.”
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for the Beacon-News.