Brazen murder, or wrong arrest? Fig Garden teen’s homicide case in Fresno jury’s hands
Did Joseph Espinoza, who was desperate to raise bail money for his friend, callously shoot and kill 17-year-old Nicholas Kauls in a robbery attempt?
Or, is the prosecution trying to pin the Fig Garden teenager’s murder on Espinoza, by using circumstantial evidence?
Those questions could soon be answered by a Fresno County jury as it begins deliberating in Espinoza’s murder trial, which ended Wednesday with closing arguments from prosecutor Deborah Miller and defense attorney Ralph Torres.
Kauls, a San Joaquin Memorial student, was shot to death on June 24, 2018 outside a home in the Fig Garden neighborhood. The killing sent shock waves through the community of tree-lined streets and historic homes.
In her closing, Miller told jurors that she has assembled the pieces of the puzzle that prove Espinoza was the shooter.
She laid out the motive of the defendant needing money to bail out of his close friend Jose Figueroa, who was in jail on a weapons charge.
She also connected him to the murder weapon with a witness who testified that while Espinoza was staying at her home, he took her 9 mm pistol the night of the shooting. Ballistics tests showed it was the same gun used to kill Kauls.
Miller presented witnesses who tied the defendant to the scene of the murder and other robbery attempts that night.
The jury also heard a jail phone call recorded after Kauls was killed, where Espinoza appears to brag about the shooting to an incarcerated Figueroa.
In the conversation Espinoza says, ‘” I caught a body last night, he was 17.”
The phrase “catch a body’ is slang for murder. “There was a series of actions the defendant took because he wanted to raise money to bail out his buddy and he was going to do whatever he could to accomplish that,” Miller said.
“He stole a car and went around robbing people and he tried to rob two 17-year-old boys when he shot Nick Kauls in the back of the head.”
Defense arguments
Meanwhile, defense attorney Torres said his client wasn’t the only one in a stolen Toyota Highlander that night. He alleges there may have been up to six people in the SUV.
He reminded the jury of some of the conflicting witness statements.
One witness described seeing several young teenagers in a white SUV breaking into cars in the neighborhood.
Torres also tried to discredit the witness who said Espinoza stole her gun. Torres alleges she was lying to protect herself and her son, who Torres said may have been with the defendant the night of the shooting.
He also reminded the jury that the witness, who was 43 at the time, was in a romantic relationship with Figueroa, who was 19.
Figueroa and Espinoza along with several other female friends would sometimes stay at the witnesses home.
The woman testified that day after the shooting, she noticed her 9 mm handgun was missing from her room. She asked Espinoza about it and he pulled it out of his waistband and gave it back to her.
Torres questioned her story by saying Espinoza had his own weapon, a 45 caliber handgun. He didn’t need the smaller weapon.
“That gun was in the hands of a female, that is the only rational conclusion you can come to,” Torres said.
To further cast doubt in the minds of the jury, Torres said that one of the robbery victims who was with Kauls described the robber as having a soft voice. He said that it could have been a woman with Espinoza that night.
DNA tests on the gun were not conclusive on who handled the weapon that night, Torres said.
“You can’t put that gun in his (Espinoza’s) hand,” Torres said. “But whoever shot that 9 mm is the one who killed Nick Kauls.”
If Espinoza is found guilty, he could be sent to prison for the rest of his life, without the possibility of parole.
This story was originally published November 18, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
