ALPINE — When Lisette McGuire, 37, of Marathon, was convicted in 2023 of murdering her boyfriend and received a sentence of 37 years in prison, family and friends of the victim felt that their calls for justice had been heard and acted on. Now, a trial has started this week for a second sentencing of McGuire to decide whether to leave the penalty the same or lower it to as little as two to 20 years with a possibility of parole in 10 years.
McGuire was convicted of running over and killing Aquiles Armendariz Gonzalez, an Alpine resident, then 37, with her SUV on April 29, 2018, after a late-night heated argument involving their relationship. The two also had a child together. Police called the act intentional and witnesses watched McGuire flee the scene in her car, only to be arrested later in Marathon. A jury found her guilty last June and sentenced her to the 37-year term.
However, McGuire came back to the 394th District Court in Fort Stockton Monday on a plea to reduce her sentence. District Judge Roy Ferguson, who presided at murder trial, determined that McGuire’s counsel erred in not requesting sentencing guidelines — to consider whether her actions were an act of passion — for the jury to consider. Thus, a trial only to consider new sentencing was set.
Family and friends of Aquiles watched McGuire walk free for five years after her murder charges, since she was released quickly on a $150,000 bond from Brewster County Jail, and they spent much of that time calling for “justice for Aquiles” on social media and holding fundraisers for his death expenses. Those close to Aquiles could not be reached for comment by The Big Bend Sentinel deadline. However, many shared prayers with each other on Facebook that their call for justice would result in the same sentence for McGuire. Reports from the Alpine Avalanche in February noted that the prosecuting attorney, Assistant DA Bill Parham — who prosecuted the murder trial — had offered a plea deal for 25 years, one that still stands.
Friends of McGuire, who did not want to comment publicly, said they were still in disbelief of her actions that night in April 2018. They said that in the five years it took to get to trial, she had turned her life around, stopped using drugs and had another child with her husband. They all agreed that she had to face some penalty for the murder and felt for the family and friends of Aquiles, but they said a jury should consider what was likely a night where McGuire was out of control and acting in passion. It also should be considered that McGuire might have been assaulted by Aquiles the night of the incident, they said.
The Sentinel did not have access to any court records or complaints by deadline, since the Brewster County Clerk said they were all being held in Fort Stockton. The district clerk’s office in Fort Stockton would not release any information on the case and would not even confirm that a trial was starting Monday — even though those records are public — and said only the district clerk, Darla Cude, could release them. Cude did not return calls from The Sentinel.
In a bizarre twist in the case, McGuire was arrested again on February 7, 2019 — about 10 months after Aquiles’ murder — for allegedly participating in a drive by shooting of cars at Aquiles’ house in February of 2018, two months before McGuire ran over him. Also arrested in the shooting incident were Jon Jay Whitley, then 48 and formerly of Marathon, and Adam Molina, then 33, of Alpine. The Sentinel could not determine the outcome in that case and how it affected McGuire’s bond for the murder charges by deadline.
On Tuesday, prosecutor Parham and defense attorneys Julie Balovich and Shane O’Neal picked a jury in McGuire’s new trial and gave their opening remarks on Wednesday after The Sentinel deadline. Jurors will hear all the evidence and testimony possible from the original trial over the next few days to make a decision on the sentence.
