United States Attorney Bill Nettles announced that a jury found Martin Teran and Josue Benitez guilty Thursday afternoon in federal court in Columbia, South Carolina. Teran and Benitez were convicted of committing murder for hire (Title 18, United States Code Sections 1958 and 924(c)); illegally possessing a firearm as an illegal alien (Title 18, United States Code Sections 922(g)(5)); and illegally re-entering the United States having previously been deported (Title 8, United States Code Section 1326). Teran also was convicted of tampering with witnesses and obstructing justice (Title 18, United States Code Sections 1503 and 1512). In total, the jury returned guilty verdicts on all seven counts of the indictment. Mr. Nettles stated that Teran and Benitez are facing potential life sentences as a result of their convictions. United States District Judge Joseph Anderson of Columbia, South Carolina presided over the trial and will impose sentences.
Evidence presented during the three-week trial from eyewitnesses, law enforcement, and cooperating informants showed that Teran and Benitez were hired by an individual from Honduras to kill a man living in West Columbia, SC. After planning the murder, Teran and Benitez , along with others, drove a thousand miles from Houston, Texas to Columbia. After several days conducting surveillance and purchasing vehicles to use in the murder, Teran and Benitez fulfilled their plan on November 2, 2008, by killing Jorge Ramos. Using a .380 caliber pistol, Benitez shot Ramos twice, once in the head and once in the back, before fleeing in the bed of a green pickup with a distinctive white door. Teran and Benitez returned to Houston, Texas. Less than two weeks later, Houston Police Department officers arrested Benitez in possession of a Beretta .380 caliber pistol, which South Carolina SLED analysts were able to confirm was the very pistol used to murder Ramos. Teran and Benitez are illegal aliens, having both re-entered the United States after being deported (Teran had been deported six times). While in jail awaiting trial, agents intercepted encoded communications from Teran that evidenced his attempt to tamper with government witnesses and prevent them from testifying at the trial. The trial demonstrated that Teran and Benitez were members of the gang Mara Salvatrucha (commonly known as MS-13), which operates throughout the United States and Central America.
The case was primarily investigated by Lexington County Sheriff’s Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with substantial assistance from SLED, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Houston Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jay N. Richardson and J.D. Rowell.
