Ricardo Sanchez and Daniel Troya could face the death penalty if convicted on charges related to the murders of Jose Luis Escobedo, his wife Yessica,

Ricardo Sanchez and Daniel Troya could face the death penalty if convicted on charges related to the murders of Jose Luis Escobedo, his wife Yessica, and their sons Luis Julian and Luis Damian.Husband, wife and two children from Greenacres found shot to death off Florida's Turnpike in northern Port St. Lucie.Much of the testimony this week, however, has centered on Danny Varela, who is accused of heading up the drug ring for which Escobedo allegedly acted as a drug connection.This morning, former drug dealer Mario Calderon testified that he purchased 2 to 3 kilos of cocaine from Varela per week between 2005 and 2006.Calderon, currently serving a 42-month prison sentence on drug charges, told jurors Sanchez and another co-defendant, Liana Lee Lopez, typically delivered the drugs, though Varela accompanied Sanchez on one occassion.Defense attorney pressed Calderon on how his own criminal activities might lead him to be deported back to his native Guatemala, something Calderon testified he was hoping to avoid by cooperating in the case.Monday, an alleged former drug associate turned DEA informant Malik Mullino testified that he, too, bought large quantities of cocaine from Varela.U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley over defense objections allowed Mullino to tell jurors that he and Varela had met at a prison work camp and did business together in 2004 and 2005, a year before the incidents with which the four are charged in federal indictments.Hurley, however, did keep Mullino from mentioning the details of a conversation he had with one of Varela's girlfriends, Draciena Berrios, who Mullino told investigators had confided in him that Varela's drug business had gotten so big that he had to hire enforcers to protect him.
Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputy John Halloran this morning testified about a July 10, 2006 incident where he tried to pull over Sanchez while he was riding in a Ford Taurus.According to Halloran, Sanchez led him on a chase before crashing the car into a tree, trying to run away with a shoebox under his arm, and eventually dropping the shoebox before he was caught.Inside the shoebox, Halloran testified, he found a large quantity of cocaine.

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