Jury will decide Monday if Manuel Sanchez is guilty of killing Brian Runnels in 2014

It is now up to a 12-person jury if Manuel Sanchez is guilty of the 2014 murder of Brian Runnels, who was believed missing for six years before his skeleton was recovered in a desert area outside of Carlsbad.

On Friday, defense attorney Lisa Torraco sought to uncover a flawed investigation that she said led to her client being unfairly charged with the murder of Brian Runnels.

Most of the day’s testimony on the fifth day of Sanchez’s murder trial centered on the police investigation headed by Carlsbad Police Detective Tim Nyce, who first took the witness stand Thursday morning.

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It was Nyce who interviewed Brett Roark in April 2020 when Roark confessed to helping Sanchez bury Runnels’ body after he was shot and killed in October 2014.

Roark’s confession led to the discovery of Runnels’ skeletal remains by police.

Sanchez and Roark both face a count each of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence stemming from the incident, with Roark facing a trial in February 2024.

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The trial of Sanchez in Carlsbad Fifth Judicial District Court was scheduled to end Friday, but after the state rested and the defense began calling witnesses, it was extended to Monday.

Here’s what happened on Friday during the trial before District Judge Jane Shuler-Gray.

Defense moves for ‘directed verdict,’ arguing prosecutors failed to offer enough evidence

After the State rested Friday morning, Torraco issued a motion that Shuler-Gray give a directed verdict from the bench that the state had failed to meet its evidentiary burden to charge Sanchez with the murder of Runnels.

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Shuler-Gray denied the motion and ordered the trial to proceed.

Verdicts like that are issued to acquit the defendant when a judge finds the jury could not reach a conclusion other than what the state is alleging, based on the evidence it presented.

‘Surprise’ witness called by defense after State rests

John Campbell, a former worker at the property where Runnels lived and was allegedly murdered was called as the defense’s second witness, although he was not included by name on the witness list.

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Campbell said he worked for the property owner Thomas “Ace” Appling on occasion and was present the night Runnels went missing.

He said that night in October 2014, a barbeque was held at the main house on the property which Runnels attended.

At about 9:30 or 10 p.m., Campbell said he noticed Runnels left his watch on the porch and returned it to him.

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He testified for the defense that he brought the watch to Runnels’ camper, where police said the victim was shot to death by Sanchez, finding Runnels alive.

This timeline was likely intended to contradict Roark’s version of the events leading to Runnels’ death, as the time Campbell said he returned the watch would have been around the same time Sanchez was, according to police, shooting and burying Runnels.

Girlfriend says she and Sanchez were ‘intertwined’ in bed at alleged time of murder

Sanchez’s girlfriend at the time of Runnels’ death was called to testify by the defense to give her account of that night in 2014.

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Jamie Murray said Sanchez first called her that night to bring him insulin and was not at Appling’s house when she arrived.

She said she drove to Runnels’ camper looking for Sanchez and saw Runnels talking with another man Mikey Sullivan, now deceased, before heading back to the house.

On the way back, Murray said Sanchez and Roark got in her car and the three of them proceeded to the house.

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She said she and Sanchez went to bed and became “intertwined” as they slept, and were in the same position when she woke up and left the next morning at 6 a.m.

Murray said she had no memory of a call at 3:08 a.m. the morning after the alleged shooting from Appling’s phone, which the State said Sanchez was using, to hers, or other calls after midnight.

“I am a very heavy sleeper,” she said on the stand.

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Psychologist testifies police manipulated Roark into confessing, accusing Sanchez of murder

Susan Cave, a forensic psychologist said police often use interview techniques relying on a person’s “suggestibility” to garner “false confessions.”

She said she reviewed some audio recordings of Roark’s police interviews, read transcripts of other interviews, and looked over the affidavit attached to the warrant for Sanchez’s arrest.

Roark was “not the sharpest tool in the shed,” Cave said, and she described him as mentally “lower functioning.”

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People like that, she said, were more likely to be led to conclusions by outside influences such as from an investigator during an interrogation.

Cave noted in the April 2020 interview where Roark accused Sanchez or murdering Runnels that Carlsbad Police Detective Tim Nyce first spent time “building rapport” with Roark to gain his trust.

“He takes the first half hour doing what I would call buttering him up,” she said.

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But then the meeting took a turn, and Cave said she noticed that Nyce was the first person to mention Sanchez by name.

“That did not spontaneously come out of Brett,” she said.

Cave also noted several inconsistencies and changing details in Roark’s stories between at least five conversations with police.

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She said the only thing consistent with Roark’s story was the “Manny shot Brian.”

Luce sought to discredit Cave’s conclusions, asserting she had no law enforcement training and had never actually met Roark before describing him as “slow” before the jury.

Detective recounts investigation that led to murder charge

Nyce took the stand shortly before noon on Thursday and continued through Friday morning.

He described how he took on the case in 2020, six years after Runnels’ disappearance, and began by reexamining phone records and interviewing people believed associated with Runnels before he went missing.

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That led Nyce to the Appling property in the 2400 block of E. Greene St. just outside of Carlsbad where Runnels managed water sales.

Appling also had a trucking company on the property, and often hired workers including Roark and Sanchez.

Police documented several calls between Appling’s phone, which prosecutors said Sanchez was using, to and from his girlfriend Jamie Murray, Runnels’ phone and Ernest Copetillo who testified earlier in the trial that Sanchez asked him to help “cut up” the body.

The State also played Nyce’s interrogation of Sanchez for the jury, where Sanchez denied any involvement in the death of Runnels and said the two of them were friends.

On cross-examination from the defense, Nyce admitted multiple aspects of Roark’s story changed except for his accusation that Sanchez murdered Runnels.

“Manny shot Brian. That never changed,” Nyce said.

Torraco also pointed out that no shell casings were found at Runnels’ camper, the alleged site of the shooting, nor was DNA evidence successfully extracted from the burial site.

She questioned the “veracity” of the investigation, arguing Nyce did not adequately review the previous investigation from 2014 when building the case against Sanchez about six years later.

What’s next?

Both the prosecution and defense rested Friday, having called all their witnesses and presented all their evidence.

Judge Shuler-Gray on Monday will next instruct the jury on how to issue its verdict, and attorneys from both sides will make their closing arguments.

After the arguments are heard, the jury will deliberate as long as necessary.

If Sanchez is found guilty, he will likely face a separate sentencing hearing on another date before Shuler-Gray.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Jury will decide Monday if Manuel Sanchez is guilty of 2014 murder