 Alarico Medina greets his daughter, Marisa, after his release (Photo: Associated Press)
An argument broke out between Holt and several bystanders. Twenty-five-year-old Alarico “Rico” Medina and his cousin, Jesse Gomez, sought to intervene. The argument escalated into a fight and Holt was stabbed in the abdomen. Ten hours later, Holt died in Denver General Hospital.
On July 6, police arrested Medina after an eyewitness claimed that Medina lunged at Holt. Another witness claimed he saw Medina with a knife. Another witness said that after Holt was stabbed, he said, “Rico. Rico.”
In fact, Gomez had stabbed Holt, but he refused to come forward with the truth. Prior to Medina going to trial, his wife, Suzanne, surreptitiously tape-recorded a conversation with Gomez in an attempt to get him to admit he had stabbed Holt.
"What are you going to do about it?" Suzanne asked.
"It ain't my fault that they're saying it's him," Gomez replied. "That just shows what they…know. You don't even know if the witnesses are going to show," Gomez said. "They can't convict an innocent man."
"Jesse, as much as you want it to go away, it's not going to," Suzanne said. "They don't care if they send an innocent man to prison, so long as they get somebody."
"And what if they show up?" she asked. "What are you going to say after that? Go in and say you did it?"
"I want to see where the witnesses stand," Gomez replied.
Suzanne brought the recording to Medina’s defense lawyer, who said that tape was no help in defending the case. The tape was provided to the prosecution as well.
In March 1991, Medina went to trial in Denver County District Court. On April 2, 1991, he was convicted of first-degree murder, largely on the testimony of the witness who said he saw Medina lunge at Holt. Gomez had been called as a witness, but he invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and did not testify.
While the case was on appeal, Medina’s mother, Mary Sandoval, approached Denver police officer Manny Alvarez, who was a friend. After she played the tape for Alvarez, he began re-investigating the case. He tracked down a witness, Chris Velasquez, who lived in the housing project. Velasquez recalled that during an afternoon of drinking with Gomez after Holt was killed, Gomez said, “I killed a Black man and my cousin Rico took the fall.”
Alvarez located three other witnesses who also said Gomez had admitted to the crime. In addition, the witness who said that he saw Medina lunge at Holt admitted that he was visually impaired and was not wearing his glasses the day of the murder. He admitted Gomez could have been the person who lunged at Holt.
In November 1993, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld Medina’s conviction.
By then, his appellate lawyer, Beth Krulewitch, had taken the tape recording of Gomez to an expert who was able to enhance the quality. She asked the Denver County District Attorney Bill Ritter to re-investigate the case, and handed over the recording.
While the prosecution re-investigated the case, Medina took a polygraph examination. The examiner said he showed no deception when he denied committing the crime.
On March 9, 1995, assistant district attorney Craig Silverman, who had prosecuted Medina at trial, went to a prison in Rifle, Colorado where Gomez was serving a 13-year sentence for attempted burglary. He offered Gomez immunity from prosecution if he would tell the truth.
With a tape recording running, Gomez agreed to the offer. “Alex Holt went to reach for something,” Gomez said. “That’s when I stabbed him.”
Gomez said that on the day of the stabbing, they had had an argument with another man, which prompted Medina to get a knife from the kitchen. By the time Medina came out with the knife, the man had left, so Gomez said he took the knife and put it in his back pocket.
He said that a man named Travis Holmes fell off his bicycle. When Holt approached Holmes, a scuffle occurred. Gomez said that Medina went to help Holmes and several men then came up. Gomez said that when he went to back up his cousin, Holt said something that angered him and he stabbed Holt.
Gomez said that Medina then lunged at Gomez, grabbed the knife from his hand and fled. That account explained why witnesses said they saw Medina lunge toward Holt and leave with a knife in his hand.
After giving the statement, Gomez telephoned family members and told them he had just confessed to stabbing Holt. He admitted he had allowed Medina to be wrongly convicted.
The call was monitored, as all non-legal calls are, and provided another recorded admission from Gomez.
On March 15, 1995, Medina was released from prison. He pled guilty to a charge of being an accessory after a crime and received credit for time served.
– Maurice Possley
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