EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – On Wednesday, August 2, the trial of Facundo Chavez who is accused of killing the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Peter Herrera saw more witnesses take the stand.

The defense called several people to testify including private investigators Hector Jimenez and Jose Aguilar.

Jimenez said on the stand that he was tasked by the defense to track the vehicle that was used by Herrera on March 19, 2019.

On that night, Herrera allegedly had an encounter with Arlene Pina, who was Chavez’s girlfriend at the time and Maria Gabriela Jimenez, Chavez’s mother.

Based on the information that was given to Jimenez, Herrera was at the address that night.

Jose Aguilar took the stand and said that he was asked to look over 2,500 photos and messages from Herrera’s phone. Aguilar did find several photos of Pina’s Texas ID card as well as Chavez’s.

In other messages that were displayed to the jury, Herrera sent out a message to a contact named Narco Max with Pina’s date of birth and phone number, as she was possibly going to be an informant with the Sheriff’s Narco Division.

However, the state argued that it is not uncommon for a deputy to offer that kind of information to a possible informant.

Arlene Pina’s father, Francisco Pina, also testified for the defense. He was asked about his memory of the night of March 12, but he could not recall seeing Herrera at that time.

Maria Gabriela Jimenez testified as well and said that she, along with her nephew, went to Pina’s house the night of March 12 to pick up Chavez’s car.

She said that at first, Pina and her brother were not allowing Chavez to leave with the car.

Chavez then called 911 and the deputy that answered the call was Herrera. Chavez’s mother then stated she had Chavez on the phone and that Herrera and him spoke briefly.

She said Herrera was able to get the key from Pina and from there she went home.

The state then called their rebuttal witnesses.

Sgt. Samuel Magallanes testified that he is the contact known as Narco Max, and that he received the photos from Herrera.

He said Herrera told him that Pina was going to contact Magallanes as a possible informant but that she never contacted him.

The state then called Deputy Javier Harrison. Harrison was the officer who picked up Chavez from the crime scene the night of Deputy Herrera’s murder.

The state asked him about the claim Chavez made previously about excessive force being used against him, to which Harrison answered no such force was used when he was in his care.

Body cam footage was shown of the drive between the scene and sheriffs’ headquarters that showed a quiet drive as opposed to the one claimed by Chavez.

Harrison was shown pictures of scars and bruises sustained by Chavez, but Harrison stated that he is unaware of how Chavez received them.

The state and the defense rest their case and will have 30 minutes each on August 3 for closing arguments that are expected to begin at 9 a.m.

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