Rios Trial cost estimated at $338,500

These are some expenses Allen Superior Court expects to incur during the Simon Rios murder trial:

♦ $42,000 in translation services

♦ $125,000 for public-defender expenses

♦ $47,840 for hotel expenses for the sequestered jury

♦ $27,000 for jurors’ meals

♦ $38,000 for court reporter expenses

(All figures are estimates.)

For those of you who live outside of the Fort Wayne area, I'll explain this bastard's transgessions as *I* interpret them. He may be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, however, I am not a lawyer, judge or jurist and my opinions are just that. . .my opinions.

Simon Rios abused nearly every trust that one can imagine. He used the safe and familiar faces of father, husband, and neighbor to mask the evil that lurked inside of him. The following is what I beleive occurred last December here in the Summit City. . .

Rios had taken a perverse interest in Alejandra Gutierrez, a 10 year-old friend of his daughter Liliana. Alejandra would have no reason to fear her neighbor, her friend's father, and it was easy enough for Rios to coax her into his van. Any number or ploys or stories would suffice when dealing with a 10 year-old girl who knows you by the above roles only; Lord knows what ruse he employed, the end remains the same. Alejandra was abducted, violently raped , and ultimately murdered. . .her small lifeless body discarded like an old tire, in a ravine 50 miles away from her home.

Several days later, police were called to the Rios home in South Central Fort Wayne, and made the gruesome discovery of the cold-blooded murders of Rios's wife, Ana Casas and daughters Thannya, 1, Liliana, 10, and Kathy, 4. Rios was arrested for the murder of his entire family, but was not immediately connected to Alejandra's murder (disappearance at that time).

Hopefully, we'll get the full truth at the upcoming trial, but here are my thoughts: Either Rios had made advances to Alejandra in the past (which discredits my trust theory) and she had confided this to Liliana, or Rios let something slip in front of his family. Either way, somebody was going to talk. . .and something had to be done about that.

I cannot even begin to fathom abusing a little girl's trust for a few minutes of "pleasure" and then taking her life and discarding her like a gum wrapper, let alone killing your entire family to keep them from talking about it. I don't think this guy deserves a $338,500 trial, but maybe that's just me. Bullets average fifty-cents each, and they're probably cheaper in Mexico, where his victims were laid to rest. Did I mention that Rios is an illegal alien?

Rather than spend $125,000 of public money on his defense alone, let alone over $300k for the whole shebang, extradite his sorry ass back to Mexico to stand trial. I'm pretty damned sure that the trial would be shorter and cheaper and would result in Rios becoming a pinata in the local town square. . .