KTVB

Evidence presented in the trial showed Almarez shot Gabriel Flores in the back

FRUITLAND--The verdict is in, at a Payette murder trial. After six hours of deliberation a Payette County jury found Hector Almarez guilty of first-degree murder in the 2006 shooting of Gabriel Flores.

Brian lee, the Payette County prosecutor says this is one of the biggest if not the biggest case Payette County has ever seen.

Over the course of six weeks 50 to 60 witnesses took to the stand to testify of what they heard and saw at the Club 7 Bar in April of 2006.

Evidence presented in the trial showed Almarez shot Gabriel Flores in the back. Lee says the shooting happened after Almarez's gang brutally beat Flores. Lee says the witnesses who stepped forward are the reason justice was served.

"The residence in our community should be and are grateful that eyewitnesses in this case were willing to go forward with the truth so that we could bring this case, bring this particular defendant to justice," said Brian Lee, Payette County Prosecuting Attorney.

Fruitland Police say that the 16 security cameras in the bar captured the shooting, and Lee says that video played a significant role in the trial.

Lee says early reports estimate this case will cost well over six hundred thousand dollars.          

Lee also hopes that this guilty verdict will send a message that crimes like this, especially gang related crimes, will not be tolerated in Payette County.