Olivas' murder retrial begins

Frani Lisa Olivas, Crimestoppers. CSPD photo

The vote last time was 11-1 to acquit.

Prosecutors are looking to change those odds in the first-degree murder retrial of Frani Olivas, who defense attorneys say came within a single vote of a murder acquittal at a three-week trial in December.

Olivas, 49, was found guilty of accessory to murder but a lone holdout kept her from walking away with a murder acquittal in a 
July 27, 2011, shooting that killed one man and wounded another at an Auto Zone in east Colorado Springs.

Her retrial in 4th Judicial District Court began Tuesday before a new jury and is expected to last at least two weeks.

The shooting occurred in the parking lot of the auto parts store at Powers and Palmer Park boulevards.

According to Colorado Springs police, Olivas and Edward Coffey, of Colorado Springs, hatched a scheme to kidnap someone at the store and force them to turn over their ATM pin so that Olivas and Coffey could drain their bank account.

The plot went bad, authorities say, when Coffey shot intended victim Don LaRoe — and then killed Joaquin Paniagua, an illegal immigrant who came to the wounded man's aid in the parking lot.

After the shooting, Coffey — also known as Ernest Schmidt — jumped in Paniagua's car and forced the dead man's friend to drive him from the scene.

Coffey was sentenced to life in prison last year after pleading guilty to first-degree murder.

Although Coffey admitted pulling the trigger, prosecutors contend that because Olivas helped plan the robbery, she should be held responsible for its deadly consequences under the state's so-called "felony murder" statute.

Among the witnesses against her is Dawn Morgan, a co-defendant who pleaded guilty last year to accessory to murder.

Olivas was initially charged alongside Morgan as an accessory, but charges were upgraded to murder in 
February.

The decision to retry her on first-degree murder charges was made the same day her jury announced it had reached an impasse on that count.

In early February, a judge barred prosecutors Donna Billek and Reggie Short from adding additional robbery counts before the retrial. Defense attorney Tracey Eubanks argued the move was the result of "vindictiveness" over the first trial's outcome.

District Judge Scott Sells is presiding over the trial.

—

Contact Lance Benzel: 636-0366

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