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CORPUS CHRISTI (AP) = A ‘Stormer high school baseball star has Been acquitted of the murder of a drug dealer in February 1996. ‘A jury deliberated about four hours Wednesday before returning an innocent verdict against Julian Velasquez. Velasquez was a pitcher on the Robstown High School baseball team fithat won the Class 4A state champi onship in 1991 He was accused of helping Mariano Castillo kill Zeke Cantu, then dispose of the body on a farm road near a Robstown cemetery. Velasquez testified that he, Cantu and Castillo used marijuana, cocaine and heroin in Castillo’s apartment on Feb. 9, 1996. The other two men got into a quar rel that ended with Castillo battering Cantu with a baseball bat, Velasquez testified. He said he feared he might get the same treatment if he didn’t help clean up the apartment and help dispose of Cantu’s body. Castillo told police investigators in a written statement within days of the killing that he murdered Cantu. But during the trial, he testified that although he wielded the bat and shot Cantu in the head near the cemetery, Velasquez knew there was going to be a fight and had provided the bat. Velasquez said after the verdict that he fell into bad company after his glory days as a high school baseball star
Newspaper Details
Amarillo Globe Times
Amarillo, Texas, US
Thu, Jun 19, 1997
Page 17
Full Page
Clipped by
Danni T.
USA 07 Jul 2026
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