Mosqueda sentenced for murder

By Tribune staff

Antonio Mosqueda Jr. was sentenced to nine years and nine months in prison Thursday for the 2008 murder of Jose Luis Villanueva Jr. in Great Bend.

Barton County Attorney Douglas Matthews said the sentence did not deviate from a plea agreement announced on Sept. 17. Mosqueda entered what is known as an “Alvord Plea” to an amended charge of second-degree murder. Under an Alvord Plea, a defendant accepts a guilty verdict without actually admitting to committing a crime.

Mosqueda was originally charged with first-degree murder after shooting Villanueva on Aug. 12, 2008. Mosqueda called 911 around 3:15 a.m. that morning and initially told authorities he had shot an unknown intruder at his home, located at 3210 Meadowlark St.

During his preliminary hearing, evidence was presented that Villanueva had been seen with Mosqueda prior to the shooting. There was also DNA evidence that suggested the two men sat inside the residence long enough to each drink a beer and smoke a cigarette. Blood-splatter evidence indicated Villanueva was seated in a chair when he was shot and his body was moved in an attempt to make it appear he was an intruder.

Matthews previously praised the efforts of a vigorous criminal investigation that involved the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Great Bend Police Department, Barton County Sheriff’s Office and law enforcement and crime lab personnel in Hays and Wichita, as well as the Texas Rangers law enforcement agency.

Mosqueda did not speak at his sentencing. No one spoke on behalf of the victim, and Matthews said efforts to locate relatives of Villanueva had been unsuccessful.

The sentencing came three days after Mosqueda’s brother, 35-year-old Armando Mosqueda, was charged with first-degree murder in Rice County. The Lyons man was arrested Sunday in Baytown, Texas. He is suspected of killing his former girlfriend, Jeannie Jacobsen, early Sunday at her Lyons home before fleeing to Texas.