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Plant City Beating, Robbery Survivor Testifies In Slaying

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By THOMAS W.  KRAUSE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 3, 2008

TAMPA - Cornelio Perez-Velazquez sat on the witness stand today and pointed to the side of his skull, just above his left ear.

A scar cuts through his hair. He said he has a metal plate below the skin.

About 3 a.m. Oct. 9, 2006, five men broke into a Plant City house Perez-Velazquez was sharing with four other men. Perez-Velazquez was beaten with the butt of a handgun. Others were struck with hammers.

Jose Anaya, a construction worker and father of two who had recently become a U.S. Citizen, was killed.

This week, prosecutors are trying to prove to a jury that Justin Jerrod Grayer, 21, threw the fatal blows that killed Anaya. He faces charges of first-degree murder, robbery, aggravated battery and armed burglary. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

While testifying, Perez-Velazquez spoke through an interpreter. He said he woke that early morning to the sounds of a commotion in the house.

"They were hitting the door where I was sleeping," Perez-Velazquez said. "I only saw him when he hit me. His face was covered."

He said he fell down and started to bleed. The man who struck him yelled some words. Perez-Velazquez does not understand English. He said he reached under his bed and pulled out a shoebox that contained his wallet. He handed it over then lost consciousness.

About 20 minutes later, he woke. The men were gone. One of his roommates was covered with a bloody sheet. Another injured roommate was saying he didn't know what had happened.

"I looked in Jose Anaya's room," Perez-Velazquez said. "He was just lying face up."

The phone line had been cut, so the roommates drove to a friend's apartment a couple of blocks away to call police. When police and ambulances arrived, Anaya was dead.

Assistant State Attorney Ronald Gale said another roommate, Diogenes Vasquez, will testify that he saw five men break into the house. They chased him into his bedroom and struck him on the head repeatedly with a hammer.

Vasquez recognized one man's voice. Twice he tried to scramble for a window. Twice he was pulled back inside. On a final try, Vasquez managed to escape.

Plant City police detectives interviewed the victims at the hospital. They put together a list of suspects. When Vasquez saw a picture of Grayer, he said that Grayer is the man he heard attacking him. He previously had met Grayer at a neighbor's house.

Grayer's fingerprints match prints found in Anaya's house, Gale said.

One of the men arrested in the attack, Clayton Maxwell, will testify that he was with the others that night, Gale said. They met at the house of a friend, who lives across the street from Anaya's house.

Maxwell will testify that he saw the others cover their faces, arm themselves with hammers and a gun and walk into Anaya's house, Gale told the jury. The men came out carrying things, Gale said.

Maxwell pleaded to accessory after the fact and will receive a five-year prison sentence.

Also expected to testify are John Ashwell, who lived in Mayberry with Maxwell, and a Polk County sheriff's deputy. Ashwell, Gale said, called Polk deputies after he read an article about the robbery in a newspaper. He told Deputy Steven Pickavance that he found hammers in his yard and they might be related to the attack.

In an "unbelievable" mistake, Gale said, Pickavance did not believe the hammers were related to the crime. He threw them away in a trash bin, Gale said. The hammers were never recovered.

Assistant Public Defender Anna Frederiksen-Cherry told the jurors to remember that Grayer is the only man on trial this week. The evidence linking him to the crime is scant, she said.

The victims were severely injured when they told the detectives about the attack and identified Grayer, she said. Maxwell, she said, was on a drug binge for several days leading up to the attack.

When he cooperated with detectives, he was facing life in prison.

"He had self-interest and he was completely motivated by saving himself," Frederiksen-Cherry told the jurors. "The only evidence you will hear about my client's part is from Clayton Maxwell. He is a highly unreliable witness because he is a druggie."

The trial is expected to continue for the rest of the week.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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