A man accused of planning the killing of a Littleton resident on June 1 was denied bond by a federal magistrate judge on Thursday.
Jesus Daniel Medina-Meraz is charged with conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce with intent to commit murder and killing a person while engaging in drug trafficking.
Court records show federal agents recorded Medina-Meraz discussing the killing with a suspected drug trafficker after the homicide.
Joaquin Lucero-Carillo was killed in the doorway of his home with a .40-caliber handgun in the Parkland Square Apartments near West Belleview Avenue and South Federal Boulevard.
In the days prior to Lucero-Carillo’s death, federal agents were recording phone conversations with a crew of suspected drug dealers discussing traveling from Michigan to Colorado to carry out a “job.”
At the time, the agents were in the midst of a drug trafficking investigation in Michigan and did not know that the purpose of the trip to Colorado was to carry out a hit. The recordings were not specific about what the men intended to do in Colorado.
Agents were monitoring Medina-Meraz because they caught him doing a drug buy with Enrique Amaya, a suspected trafficker in Michigan in December 2009, according to an arrest affidavit.
During Thursday’s hearing, Medina-Meraz’s attorney asked the judge to allow him to post bond pending a court appearance in Michigan where the case will be heard.
Attorney Alaurice Tafoya-Modi said her client is a 10-year resident of Colorado who lived with his father and wife and children and does not have a criminal record.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Phillips told Magistrate Judge Boyd N. Boland that bond was not appropriate considering the charges and that Medina-Meraz is in the country illegally.
Medina-Meraz will be transferred to Michigan in the next 10 days where the case against him will be heard.
The suspected shooter, Franklin Gonzalo Sierra-Rodriguez, was arrested in Texas and indicted on the same conspiracy charges along with Amaya and three other suspected drug dealers – Franklin Baquedano, Rafael Maravillas and Jesus De La Rosa-Ramirez.
