TAMPA - One hour and 35 minutes into deliberations, jurors asked if they can have the testimony of Lisette Santiago read back to them.

Santiago is the mother of Nestor DeJesus. She testified she overheard DeJesus and Paula Gutierrez talking about robbing a bank. Bailiffs called prosecutors and defense attorneys to come back to the courtroom before they bring the jury into the courtroom to deal with the question. Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett will have to rule if a court stenographer will read the testimony back to the jury.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - The jury leaves the courtroom to start its deliberations.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Prosecutor Jay Pruner picked up Paula Gutierrez’s wallet and opened it for the jurors to see inside. He pulled out her credit cards from Burdine’s, Circuit City, Target and Bank of America. He showed jurors her health club card and a library card. On a payment slip, Gutierrez had written a note "Post tonight," Pruner said.

Those small items refute Gutierrez’s contention that her boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus, handled all the finances in the relationship, Pruner said.

The real Gutierrez was in charge of more than finances. She also was in control of DeJesus, Pruner claimed.

"She played him like a fiddle," Pruner said.

When DeJesus asked her to marry him, she said no. When Gutierrez wanted to go home to New York City, against DeJesus’s wishes, she went, Pruner said.

"Paula does what Paula wants to do when Paula wants to," Pruner said.

He argued to jurors that Gutierrez and DeJesus planned the July 6, 2001 bank robbery together. DeJesus’s mother, Lisette Santiago, had testified she heard them planning a bank robbery. Gutierrez purchased the gun used for the bank robbery. The MAC-11, Pruner said, was an investment tool.

And during the holdup, Gutierrez stood in the bank in a spot where she could cover DeJesus, the bank patrons and keep an eye on the front door, Pruner said. All that showed a plan, not a meek woman blindly following her boyfriend’s orders.

Then, after the slaying of Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero, Gutierrez’s own words prove she was part of the planning of the bank robbery, Pruner argued.

Gutierrez and DeJesus were holed up in the apartment of Isaac Davis, who was being held against his will. Davis said he overheard a conversation between them.

"You never told me this would happen," Davis testified he heard DeJesus say. DeJesus continued, "This wasn’t supposed to happen."

"I know," Gutierrez responded, Davis testified.

"This is the real Paula Gutierrez," Pruner said, standing near an enlarged photo of a smiling Gutierrez holding the MAC-11.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Jurors are about to hear instructions about the law from Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - At the end of her closing, public defender DeeAnn Athan looked at the courtroom packed with police officers.

"One of their own is dead, but she didn’t have anything to do with it," Athan said, motioning to Paula Gutierrez. "She was as surprised as anybody."

"Nestor DeJesus is Lois Marrero’s killer. She shouldn’t be the sacrificial lamb because Nestor DeJesus took his own life and robbed us all of the opportunity to get a cop killer in this courtroom," Athan said.

She asked jurors to find Gutierrez not guilty.

Prosecutor Jay Pruner then took the podium to deliver the second half of his closing argument.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - The judge took a 20-minute break after a juror indicated she had to go to the bathroom.

The juror communicated with Brenda Marrero, Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero’s sister. Brenda Marrero then told a bailiff. The interruption came in the middle of public defender DeeAnn Athan’s closing argument.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Defense attorney DeeAnn Athan told jurors Paula Gutierrez is not on trial for going back to her violent boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus.

Gutierrez’s decision to do whatever DeJesus told her was about protecting herself and protecting others around her, Athan said. Even when she held the MAC-11 in the Bank of America on July 6, 2001, her desire was to make it through alive, and make sure bank patrons made it through the ordeal alive, Athan argued.

"She knew what this guy was capable of," Athan said.

Athan showed jurors a photo of DeJesus as the devil. DeJesus created the self-portrait and included his daughter, Ashley, at his feet. He transposed Ashley’s birthday, 3-9-99, turned it upside down so the nines became 66-6, or the sign of the beast.

"Is there any question in your mind this man was sick, sick, sick?" Athan said.

Athan argued that Gutierrez was not responsible for the crimes because she did what DeJesus told her to stay alive.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Prosecutor Jay Pruner said, "On the morning of the robbery they left their home with their bags packed, looking for a big score. They needed money. They needed a lot of money."

He said after the bank robbery, Gutierrez and her boyfriend’s escape attempt continued, even when they made it to their home at the Crossings Apartments. Gutierrez showered, but was so rushed to get away, she didn’t put on any underwear. Minutes later, Gutierrez’s boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus, shot and killed Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero in the Crossings Apartment parking lot. Now, defense attorney DeeAnn Athan addresses the jury.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Before opening arguments, prosecutors and defense attorneys argued about jury instructions.

Defense attorneys wanted Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett to instruct the jury that if an accomplice in a robbery makes it to a safe haven after the holdup, then they are not responsible for any crime committed after that by their partner in crime.

Prosecutors wanted wording about when the crime was over removed from the jury instructions. Padgett said he would do neither.

The issue is important because Paula Gutierrez did not shoot Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero. Her boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus, killed Marrero. The shooting happened after Gutierrez and DeJesus allegedly robbed a bank and went home. Gutierrez testified she took a shower and thought the crime was over. But Marrero tracked them to their home at the Crossings Apartment and DeJesus shot her in the parking lot. Jurors will have to decide if the escape attempt was truly over or not.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Jurors will retire to a bare-walled room today to decide the fate of Paula Gutierrez. Inside the room, they will have trays loaded with evidence to look over, including: A form Gutierrez signed when she bought a 9 mm MAC-11 handgun for her boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

The defense and prosecution rested their cases Tuesday in the Paula Gutierrez first-degree murder trial. Jurors will come back Wednesday to hear closing arguments and deliberate.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

Prosecutors brought in their own psychiatrist this morning to counter testimony by Paula Gutierrez's psychiatrist.
Donald R. Taylor told jurors this morning that Gutierrez had anxiety, depression and possibly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Taylor's major difference with Gutierrez's psychiatrist, Michael Maher, is that Taylor believes Gutierrez made her own choices. Hew said her refusal to marry Nestor DeJesus proves she could make decisions. And her decision not to kill herself, as DeJesus had told her to do, is proof she makes her own decisions, Taylor said. DeJesus ordered her to help him rob a bank on July 6, 2001, Gutierrez testified. After the holdup, DeJesus shot and killed Tampa Police Officer Lois Marrero.
Gutierrez claims she saw no other option but to obey DeJesus. Her defense is that she was under duress and should not be held responsible for the bank holdup because she feared DeJesus would kill her.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Paula Gutierrez's guilt or innocence comes down to one word.

Choice.

On Monday, a forensic psychiatrist testified that Paula Gutierrez believed she had no choice but to follow her boyfriend's every demand. Prosecutors say otherwise.
-- Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Paula Gutierrez told her forensic psychiatrist she still loves Nestor DeJesus. Michael Maher met with Gutierrez nine times. During those interviews, she told him how DeJesus choked, beat and raped her. She told him how DeJesus shot and killed Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero, then tried to convince her to kill herself. DeJesus then committed suicide. Yet, Gutierrez still loves him.

"This is a woman who still loves this man after he did everything he could to get her to kill herself," Maher said. "A sick relationship."

Maher spent hours on the stand outlining why he believes Gutierrez suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and major depression disorder.

The trial enters its 12th day Tuesday.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Paula Gutierrez’s forensic psychiatrist testifies there are similarities between Gutierrez and some Vietnam veterans.

Michael Maher says Gutierrez suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, like some of the veterans he has treated at the local Veteran’s Administration hospital. Vietnam veterans recounted instances when they were in heavy combat and they lost sight of the choices they had. They thought only of their duty to stay with their unit and became numb to their feelings about life and death, Maher says. Their only choice was to do what their commanders said.

Gutierrez, too, lost sight of her choices because her boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus, repeatedly choked and beat her and told her he was going to kill her, Maher says. Her only choice, Maher says, was to do exactly what DeJesus said.

Maher used as an example Gutierrez following every order of DeJesus during the July 3, 2001, flower shop robbery. Gutierrez said she only took $45 out of the flower shop clerk’s purse and didn’t look for a cash register. She was following DeJesus’s orders exactly, she said. He didn’t tell her to look for a cash register.

"She wanted desperately to do anything he wanted to avoid him doing violence to her, to himself and to anyone else," Maher says.

DeJesus and Gutierrez robbed a bank on July 6, 2001, according to prosecutors. After the holdup, DeJesus shot and killed Tampa Police Officer Lois Marrero, then killed himself. Gutierrez is on trial for first-degree murder, robbery and armed burglary. Her defense is that she had to do exactly what DeJesus said or he would hurt or kill her.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Michael Maher, a forensic psychiatrist, tells jurors Paula Gutierrez suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and major depression disorder.

Maher is on the stand talking about the nine times he evaluated Gutierrez following her July 6, 2001, arrest for the murder of Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Michael Maher, a forensic psychiatrist, tells jurors Paula Gutierrez suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and major depression disorder.

Maher is on the stand talking about the nine times he evaluated Gutierrez following her July 6, 2001, arrest for the murder of Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Paula Gutierrez admitted Nestor DeJesus never beat her or threatened her before the flower shop holdup. He didn’t beat or threaten her before the bank robbery three days later, either, Gutierrez testified.

The threat, she said, came from years of abuse. She knew to do what he said, or he would get angry. When he asked her to do something, and really meant it, he gave her a look, she said. He gave her that look before the July 3, 2001, flower shop holdup and the bank robbery three days later, she said.

"It was the look, that’s all it took," Gutierrez testified.

Prosecutor Jay Pruner asked Gutierrez why she lied to police three times about the flower shop robbery. Gutierrez said she didn’t know why, other than being confused. Pruner asked if perhaps she wanted police to believe that she had no idea what was going on when she and Nestor DeJesus went to rob the Bank of America. Admitting to the flower shop holdup would tell the detectives she had a good idea what was going to happen the day of the bank robbery. Gutierrez said that wasn’t her reason. Eventually, she confessed to police about the flower shop holdup.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Catherine Haddad, a south Tampa flower shop worker, testified this morning about being robbed by Nestor DeJesus and Paula Gutierrez on July 3, 2001.

That holdup was three days before the Bank of America robbery that led to the slaying of Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero. Haddad said DeJesus and Gutierrez posed as customers. Haddad said DeJesus followed her into the flower shop cooler, then ordered her to the floor. He demanded she turn over keys to a car parked in front of Flowers by Patricia at 620 S. MacDill.

"I don’t have the keys," Haddad remembers saying.

"I’m gonna kill you. Give me the keys," DeJesus said. "You want to kill me? Kill me. I don’t have the keys," Haddad said.

Haddad said Gutierrez took $85 or $90 out of her purse and the couple began to leave. She said DeJesus told Haddad he had her driver’s license and would hunt her down and blow her up is she called police. Haddad said DeJesus was in charge the whole time.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Prosecutors found themselves in the ironic position of arguing against fully disclosing the violent history of Nestor DeJesus, the man who killed Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero.

DeJesus’s girlfriend, Paula Gutierrez, is on trial for Marrero’s murder, although DeJesus is the one who shot and killed Marrero, then killed himself.

This morning, prosecutor Jay Pruner argued against letting jurors hear about how DeJesus beat another girlfriend in a similar way he beat Gutierrez.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett ruled this morning that the jury could not hear about her. Defense attorneys, DeeAnn Athan and Deborah Goins also want jurors to hear about a New York City police report where DeJesus was accused of beating two women in 1996. Padgett ruled jurors could only hear a little bit about that case. Usually, prosecutors try to get as much damaging information about a cop killer before the jury. Gutierrez’s defense strategy is to show how controlling and brutal DeJesus was to show she participated in his crimes out of fear. At times during the trial, Pruner has tried to portray DeJesus as a hard-working man who provided for Gutierrez.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Jurors heard surprise evidence Friday that Paula Gutierrez and her boyfriend robbed a Tampa flower shop three days before robbing a bank. The unexpected revelation came from Gutierrez in a taped confession she gave to police about the holdup of the Flowers by Patricia store.

TAMPA - Testimony concluded Friday. The trial resumes Monday.
-- Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Prosecutors played a tape recording of Paula Gutierrez confessing to robbing the Flowers by Patricia store.

The July 3, 2001, holdup was three days before Gutierrez and her boyfriend allegedly robbed the Bank of America on south Church Street. After the bank robbery, Gutierrez’s boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus, shot and killed Tampa police Officer Lois Marerro.

Prosecutors introduced the evidence to refute Gutierrez’s contention that she was afraid DeJesus would hurt her or kill her if she didn’t take part in the bank robbery. Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober argued that DeJesus did not hurt her even though she didn’t do very well during the flower shop robbery. DeJesus and Gutierrez only got $90 from the flower shop robbery, according to a police report.

On the tape, Gutierrez said DeJesus tied up the flower shop worker, Catherine Haddad. Haddad told police the man who robbed her threatened to kill her, according to a police report. Ober stared at jurors as they listened to the tape. The jurors read a transcript of the confession as the tape was played.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Roger Padgett gave Paula Gutierrez’s attorney until 12:30 p.m. to prepare for testimony about the flower shop robbery.

DeeAnn Athan told Padgett she needed until next week to prepare for the unexpected testimony about a July 3, 2001, robbery where Nestor DeJesus and Gutierrez allegedly robbed a flower shop.

That holdup was three days before the Bank of America holdup and slaying of Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero. Originally, Padgett ruled jurors would not hear about the previous holdup. The trial will continue at 12:30 p.m.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - The jury will hear evidence Paula Gutierrez and Nestor DeJesus robbed a flower shop three days before the bank robbery and the slaying of Tampa Police Officer Lois Marrero.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett changed his mind Friday and decided to let in the evidence. On Thursday, he said the jury wouldn’t hear about the previous robbery.

"Well, I don’t want to keep this jury in the dark," Padgett said.

On July 3, 2001, DeJesus and Gutierrez robbed a flower shop, said Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober. During the holdup, Gutierrez followed all of DeJesus’s instructions, said her attorney, DeeAnn Athan.

Ober argued the flower shop robbery proves Gutierrez was not in danger of being beaten or killed by DeJesus. There were three days between the flower shop robbery and the bank robbery, Ober said. Gutierrez could have done numerous things during that time to get to safety, Ober argued. The introduction of the flower shop holdup will likely extend the length of the trial, which is already in its 10th day.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Testimony ended early Thursday in the first-degree murder trial of Paula Gutierrez. Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett told jurors testimony will likely end Friday and they will likely begin deliberating Monday.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Even Paula Gutierrez’s father feared Nestor DeJesus.

Luis Gutierrez, of New York City, described visiting his daughter and DeJesus. Luis Gutierrez brought his youngest daughter, Stephanie, on the trip in July of 2000. During a trip to the beach, DeJesus splashed water on Paula Gutierrez and their daughter, Ashley, who were on top of a plastic, inflatable raft. DeJesus became enraged when Paula Gutierrez asked him to stop.

DeJesus popped the raft, then told everyone that they were going back to their apartment in Tampa, Luis Gutierrez testified. At the apartment, DeJesus attacked Paula Gutierrez, saying he was going to kill her and choked her, Luis Gutierrez testified. "My first reaction was to be scared," Luis Gutierrez said through an interpreter. "Chino was a big man, he worked out. I didn’t know how to react." After the attack, Luis Gutierrez found a phone number of a service for abused women and gave it to his daughter, he testified.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

	Nestor DeJesus in altered photo.

TAMPA - Nestor DeJesus emailed a picture of himself as the devil to his girlfriend’s mother, Melba Henao, she testified.

Henao said DeJesus called her and told her he was sending an email. When she opened it, there was a picture of DeJesus in a black suit, red shirt, with red eyes and surrounded by flames. At his feet was the ghostly image of his daughter, Ashley. DeJesus had created the photo using an image cut out from a magazine. He replaced the original image’s face with his own using Photoshop software. "I told him I wanted no contact with the devil," Henao testified.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Melba Henao, Paula Gutierrez’s mother, takes the stand and tells the jurors she didn’t like Nestor DeJesus from the start.

Henao says the first time Gutierrez and DeJesus went on a date, Gutierrez spent the entire weekend, against her parents’ wishes. Gutierrez was 16. Henao and her husband, Luis Gutierrez, found their daughter.

“I told her not to get together with him that we have a good family,” Henao says, through a Spanish-speaking interpreter. Henao continues, telling jurors about times DeJesus threatened to kill her family and an incident where DeJesus choked Gutierrez.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Paula Gutierrez’s younger sister, Luisa Gutierrez, takes the stand and talks about witnessing the violence of Nestor DeJesus. Luisa Gutierrez said she saw DeJesus choke Paula Gutierrez and she saw him beat up a boy at a family Thanksgiving dinner.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Paula Gutierrez’s three days of testimony ends. The defense calls Gutierrez’s younger sister, Luisa Gutierrez.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Judge J. Rogers Padgett will not allow evidence about Paula Gutierrez taking part in the robbery of a flower shop holdup.
-- Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Prosecutors want to bring in evidence Paula Gutierrez and her boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus, robbed a flower shop three days before the bank robbery that led to the slaying of Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero.

Gutierrez is not on trial for the previous holdup. But during her testimony, she told the jurors she didn’t know she and DeJesus were going to rob the Bank of America until they were in the parking lot of the bank.

Prosecutors want to tell the jury about the previous robbery to show she knew they were going to do another robbery when DeJesus woke her up on July 6, 2001. Gutierrez’s public defender, DeeAnn Athan, said if the previous holdup is presented to the jury "I might as well pack up and go home."

She said if the state had charged Gutierrez with the previous robbery, then her defense would still be that Gutierrez was afraid DeJesus would hurt or kill her if she didn’t take part in the flower shop robbery, which is the same defense in the bank robbery. But to bring in the flower shop robbery now would lead the jury to believe they had been deceived, Athan said. Hillsborough Circuit Court J. Rogers Padgett is deciding whether to let it in. "It’s bombshell evidence, no doubt about it," Padgett said.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - On Wednesday, jurors in the Paula Gutierrez murder trial were shown a haunting self-portrait of the man she says manipulated her into robbing a bank before he shot Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero. Using a software program, Nestor DeJesus had superimposed his face on a picture of the devil.

TAMPA - Paula Gutierrez was calm on the stand during the cross examination Wednesday. Prosecutor Jay Pruner again and again attempted to trip her up. At one point he caught her in a contradiction about when she knew the bank robbery would happen. He also caught her in a contradiction about when Nestor DeJesus grabbed the gun he used to kill Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero.

But for the most part, she was cool under severe pressure from the veteran prosecutor, who has worked at the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office for 16 years. She answered questions on how many times she went back to DeJesus, though he was abusive. She also admitted DeJesus never verbally or physically threatened her on the day of the bank robbery, July 6, 2001. Her most damaging admissions came at the end of Wednesday’s testimony when she admitted trying to get away from Marrero when Marrero confronted DeJesus at the Crossings Apartments.

Her testimony continues Thursday.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Prosecutor Jay Pruner led Paula Gutierrez through the young woman’s life story, emphasizing the points where she made the choice of staying with Nestor DeJesus.

She admitted calling police and security guards on DeJesus three times. She admitted breaking up with him. She admitted rejecting his advances over a four-year period. She admitted contacting him again after another boy dumped her.

"You had the strength and ability to decide to reject Nestor DeJesus overtures during those years, didn’t you?" Pruner asked.

"Yes," Gutierrez answered meekly.

Pruner was laying the groundwork for his argument that Gutierrez robbed the bank with DeJesus and did it out of her own free will. Gutierrez’s attorney, DeeAnn Athan, wants jurors to believe Gutierrez was in fear for her life and felt she had to rob the bank or would be killed by DeJesus.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - After her arrest for murder, Paula Gutierrez said she started hearing demon’s voices and gospel music in jail.

"There were demons laughing at me, shaking my mattress. They wouldn’t let me sleep," Gutierrez testified. Gutierrez said a jail doctor gave her medication, which chased away the demons for a short time. But when she watched TV, she saw flames.

After her revelation, prosecutor Jay Pruner began the cross examination.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - After the bank robbery went bad and a cop was dead, Paula Gutierrez and Nestor DeJesus made a suicide pact. They sealed it with a kiss.

The kiss was recorded on a secret police surveillance videotape captured with a camera hidden in a police phone. DeJesus and Gutierrez were holed up in an apartment with a hostage. DeJesus told his girlfriend the only way out was to kill themselves, Gutierrez testified.

He pointed his MAC-11 handgun at his chin. Gutierrez pointed a 9 mm Glock pistol at her chin. She had taken the gun from Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero. She screamed and told DeJesus she couldn’t do it. DeJesus went ahead and killed himself.

"Why didn’t you kill yourself, Paula?" public defender DeeAnn Athan asked Gutierrez.

"I couldn’t stop thinking of Ashley (her daughter)," Gutierrez said. "And my mother said she was going to send angels to get me. I just couldn’t do it."

Gutierrez surrendered to police. She is on trial for Marrero’s slaying, although DeJesus was the killer.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - On the stand Paula Gutierrez described the moment Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero was shot and killed.

Her boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus, was trying to steal a car to get away from Marrero. DeJesus had a MAC-11 handgun tucked in his waistband. Gutierrez said Marrero had her gun drawn. DeJesus pulled out his firearm.

"Put your gun down or I’m gonna shoot," Gutierrez remembered Marrero saying. Marrero paused. DeJesus fired, hitting Marrero twice.

"And she looked at me and I looked at her and it was just me and her at that moment," Gutierrez said. "And it was like ‘Why? Why are you doing this?’" Gutierrez said.

She said Marrero stumbled a few feet.

"We just kept eye contact," Gutierrez said. "We were still looking at each other. And she falls."

Gutierrez, tears streaming down her face, paused and took several deep breaths.

"And she started bleeding all over the place. She was dying," Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said DeJesus ordered her to grab Marrero’s gun. She did, and they fled to an upstairs apartment and took Isaac Davis hostage.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett broke for lunch. Gutierrez’s testimony will continue at 1:30 p.m.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Following a 30-minute break in testimony, public defender DeeAnn Athan snapped a necklace and cross on Paula Gutierrez, who is Catholic. The jury re-entered the courtroom and Athan asked Gutierrez about Nestor DeJesus’s religious beliefs.

"He was an atheist," Gutierrez said. "He said I was stupid for believing." Gutierrez said she and DeJesus sometimes argued about religion. "He said religion was something the government used to control people," Gutierrez said. "I started believing him."
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Nestor DeJesus got caught shoplifting at Macy’s in New York City and went to jail, Paula Gutierrez testified.

DeJesus got fired from his job and he told Gutierrez they were moving to Florida. She said she didn’t want to go, but believed she had to because they had a child together. In Florida, Gutierrez was depressed.

"When you’re depressed it’s like you’re in a pit and you can’t get out. I was giving up," Gutierrez said.

DeJesus continued to isolate her from neighbors and her family, Gutierrez testified. He became enraged if she looked at neighbors who greeted her. When her father and sister came to visit, DeJesus fought with her openly and choked her in front of her father. Her father did not stick up for her and left for New York City, she said. She felt stuck. If she left DeJesus and returned to New York, she believed DeJesus would follow.

"He would go back and kill us all," she told jurors.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Three or four months into her pregnancy, Paula Gutierrez started showing. Her boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus, took her to a movie one night, but he was looking at other young women. Gutierrez accused him of being disrespectful. She was sensitive about how she looked. He called her a bitch and the two left the movie theater, she said.

During the subway ride home, DeJesus pulled out a pocketknife and held it to her belly, she said.

"He told me if I wasn’t pregnant he would kill me," Gutierrez said. "I was terrified. I was shaking. I was just praying he wouldn’t kill me."

Minutes later, DeJesus told her he loved her.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA – Paula Gutierrez began a second day of testimony Wednesday morning with details of her pregnancy and how Nestor DeJesus treated her.

"He treated me good in the beginning. He didn’t scream at me. He didn’t hit me," Gutierrez testified.

But when she started showing, DeJesus changed, she said.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Paula Gutierrez took the stand Tuesday, detailing her twisted teenage relationship with the man who the defense says intimidated her into helping him rob a bank and being present when he killed a police officer.
-- Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Paula Gutierrez said she had an on-again, off-again relationship with a violent Nestor DeJesus for years. Then in June of 1998, she discovered she was pregnant by DeJesus, although he had told her he was sterile.

"I felt trapped," Gutierrez said. On Wednesday, Gutierrez is expected to continue telling jurors about her life with the man who killed Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Paula Gutierrez told jurors about her relationship with Nestor DeJesus. From the start, he was sweet. But in a short time, he began to be possessive.

He showed up at her high school in a Queens neighborhood of New York City and accused her of flirting with other high school boys, Gutierrez testified. He visited for Thanksgiving in 1993, and after dinner popped a razor blade into his mouth.

"You want to leave me?" he asked, and ran into a bathroom and began slitting his wrists.

The confrontation ended when DeJesus beat up another teenager at the Gutierrez home. Cops came and took him away, Gutierrez said, but didn’t arrest him.

Another time he choked her in front of a Chinese video rental shop and smacked her on a subway in front of numerous people, Gutierrez testified. She repeatedly broke up with him, but repeatedly dated him again either because he was nice to her or because she was afraid he would hurt her, she testified.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Paula Gutierrez takes the stand.
-- Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - The defense called the mother of Nestor DeJesus to help its case, but Lisette Santiago provided some of the most damaging testimony against Paula Gutierrez when she said Gutierrez sometimes talked about robbing a bank with DeJesus.

The suprising testimony sent public defender DeeAnn Athan into a fit. She yelled at Santiago, asking her why she never provided this information before during five hours of pretrial depositions. "It was Nestor who talked about robbing the bank, not Paula, right?" Athan asked. "No, they both did," Santiago said. Athan slammed down two thick transcripts of Santiago’s depositions and yelled, "I have no further questions for this witness!"

Athan had called Santiago to talk about how DeJesus brutalized Gutierrez. But Santiago told jurors about the two sides of her son. He once kicked down a bedroom door and slapped Gutierrez in their Tampa apartment, Santiago said. Santiago bought Gutierrez a plane ticket and sent her to New York City to be with her family. But DeJesus also provided for his girlfriend and their daughter, Ashley. He bought Gutierrez a Nissan Xterra and a membership to a gym, Santiago testified.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Jurors may never hear from a young woman who was beaten and demoralized by Nestor DeJesus in the same way Paula Gutierrez says she was brutalized by her boyfriend.

April Hildreth, 23, testified without the jury present. She said she moved in and lived with DeJesus when she was 15. Soon after she moved he began to beat her, once tricked her into having sex with his friend so he could beat her. He told her there were two ways she would leave him.

"The only way I was leaving was if I went back to HRS or I was leaving in a body bag," Hildreth tearfully testified. Public defender DeeAnn Athan showed Hildreth a picture of Gutierrez holding the MAC-11 that was later used to kill Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero. Gutierrez smiled in the photo. "Would you have taken a picture like this for Nestor DeJesus?" Athan asked. "Yeah," Hildreth said. "Why?" "Because he told me to," Hildreth responded.

Athan wants the jury to hear from Hildreth, but Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett said he doubted they could, but would see how the testimony goes before he decides.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - The man who took a deposit from Paula Gutierrez tried to talk her and Nestor DeJesus out of buying a MAC-11 handgun.

A MAC-11 "is mostly something somebody wants to play Rambo with," Leon Wynne testified Tuesday. Wynne is a former employee of University Gun and Pawn.

Wynne told the jury the only good thing about a MAC-11 was it’s high-capacity magazine, which held 30 rounds of 9 mm ammunition.

Wynne said he handed the weapon to Gutierrez, but DeJesus handled it. DeJesus worked the slide, then said "Fine."

Gutierrez gave Wynne a $100 bill as a deposit.

Wynne said it was apparent DeJesus was in charge.

Days later, Wynne testified, Gutierrez came back with DeJesus and paid for the gun that allegedly was used in a bank robbery and to kill Tampa Police Officer Lois Marrero.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - A Lindell car dealership salesman testified Tuesday that he saw Tampa Police Officer Lois Marrero pointing her gun at Nestor DeJesus seconds before DeJesus shot and killed her.

Cary Forney’s testimony contradicted previous testimony where witnesses said Marrero never un-holstered her gun. Forney said after DeJesus shot her, he saw DeJesus run into a breezeway. Forney also saw a female figure standing in the breezeway pacing.

Forney was the third witness for the defense.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - The first defense witness, Tampa Police Officer David Shepler, said he saw Nestor DeJesus grab Paula Gutierrez around the neck and use her as a human shield during a shootout in testimony Tuesday.

Shepler responded to Tampa Police Officer Lois Marrero’s calls for help that day. Shepler testified he heard the shots that killed Marrero and saw her lying in a pool of blood.

The officer looked at DeJesus and shot it out with him, then chased DeJesus into the Crossings Apartments, Shepler said.

DeJesus ran up to the second floor landing. Shepler aimed and was about to fire when DeJesus grabbed Gutierrez around the neck and held her in front of him, Shepler said.

The officer held his fire.

DeJesus later killed himself. Gutierrez is on trial for Marrero’s murder.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Public defender DeeAnn Athan attempted to get the murder charge against her client, Paula Gutierrez, dismissed based on the argument that the flight from the bank robbery was over when the killing occurred.

Though she didn’t pull the trigger, Gutierrez is on trial for the murder of Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero. She was charged as an accomplice under a law that allows robbers to be charged with murder if a partner kills someone during the holdup or while trying to get away.

Gutierrez and her boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus, had made it to their apartment after the holdup. Later, they were confronted outside their apartment by Marrero and DeJesus shot and killed her. Athan said making it to the apartment ended the flight.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett ruled against Athan, saying it’s up to the jury to decide if DeJesus and Gutierrez were still on the run when Marrero was shot and killed. The defense started its case, calling a Tampa police officer who was involved in the search for the bank robbers.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - The prosecution rested its case this morning against Paula Gutierrez, accused of murder in the slaying of Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero.

The last state witness was a University Gun and Pawn shop worker who sold a MAC-11 9 mm semi-automatic handgun to Gutierrez. Her boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus, used that gun to shoot and kill Marrero. About 30 witnesses testified for the state during five days of testimony.

Gutierrez’s public defender, DeeAnn Athan, began her argument trying to convince Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett to dismiss the charges of murder, armed robbery and armed burglary.
-- Joshua B. Good , Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Before she robbed a bank with her boyfriend, Paula Gutierrez told investigators, she thought about her daughter, Ashley.

After the robbery, with a police officer and her boyfriend dead, Gutierrez said she was faced with a decision: kill herself or surrender.

She thought about Ashley again and chose life.
-- Tampa Tribune