On Tuesday a Dallas County jury convicted Carlos Hernandez-Ventura on three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths last year of Lourdes Leake, Melanie Barazza and Juan Jimenez, all of Perry.
The jury deliberated for a little more than one hour before returning the three guilty verdicts. Afterward, a member of the jury said the “extreme brutality” of the murders carried a lot of weight in their deliberations.
“You all had some strong stomachs,” a bystander said to several of the newly released jurors as they exited the courthouse after the trial.
“We didn’t have any choice,” one of the jurors replied.
Hernandez-Ventura used a machete to hack to death the three victims. The female victims, Leake, 34, and her daughter, Barazza, 14, died at the scene of the Oct. 29, 2016, attack. The male victim, Jimenez, 78, succumbed to his injuries Nov. 12, 2016, at Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines.
Dennis Klein, the forensic pathologist in the State Medical Examiner’s office who performed autopsies on the victims, said Leake died as a result of “40 separate sharp-force injuries,” including 17 to the head and scalp, 11 to the neck and 12 to the upper extremities, including the complete severance of her right hand and partial severance of her left hand.
Barraza similarly suffered 37 sharp-force injuries, including partial decapitation through the severance of her jugular vein and spinal cord. Jimenez in his turn was struck 15 times, including a blow that fractured his skull and exposed his brain matter.
The prosecutors for the state, Assistant Dallas County Attorneys Erica Clark and Sean Wieser, called 25 witnesses to the stand in the process of assembling the overwhelming physical evidence in the case against Hernandez-Ventura.
Among the more telling items of evidence was blood from two of the victims that was found on the defendant’s feet. The defendant’s blood was also commingled on the murder weapon with the blood of one of the victims.
Hernandez-Ventura also confessed to the crimes. His case was defended in court by Mike Adams and Jill Eimermann of the Special Defense Unit of the Iowa Public Defenders office.
First-degree murder is a Class A felony in Iowa, carrying a life sentence. Dallas County District Court Judge Paul R. Huscher scheduled sentencing for April 21.
