Three indicted for murder
by By Colton Campbell/Times-Georgian
Feb 26, 2013 | 3215 views | 0 0 comments | 6 6 recommendations | email to a friend | print
More than 100 accused suspects were indicted by a Carroll County grand jury last week, including three accused of murder.

Named in three of the indictments were Anthony Vashern Prothro, Moquita Inetta Green and Hector Zuniga Martinez.

Prothro, 22, of Carrollton was indicted on 10 counts by the grand jury on charges including murder, armed robbery and arson.

The man is accused of killing his 70-year-old grandfather last month before setting his house on fire three days later. Prothro was denied bond last Friday by Judge Bill Hamrick.

During last week’s bond hearing, Sgt. Shannon Cantrell of Carrollton Police Department said the crime lab autopsy report had shown that Prothro’s grandfather, Carrollton resident Alvin Driver, had died from blunt force trauma rather than smoke inhalation, as was originally expected during the original investigation of the fire.

Cantrell, called to the stand by Assistant District Attorney Anne Allen, testified that Prothro admitted going into Driver’s home on Foster Street sometime on Wednesday, Jan. 16, with the intention of stealing his grandfather’s wallet.

The officer testified that after an altercation, Prothro took an exercise dumbbell and hit Driver on the head with it “several times.”

Police deduced that, in the next several days, Prothro allegedly returned to Driver’s home, taking the keys to his grandfather’s truck and taking it, returning it later each night.

In the early morning hours the following Saturday, Prothro went back to the house, doused an area in gasoline and set it on fire, police said.

Firefighters found Driver’s body in the living room of his home at about 5 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19.

Prothro is represented by public defender John Howe, and will be arraigned in front of Kirby on April 12.

Also indicted on murder charges:

• Green, 24, of Carrollton was indicted on three counts, including murder and aggravated assault.

The woman is accused of killing her live-in boyfriend last December.

Green was granted a $100,000 bond earlier this month by Judge Jack Kirby, but she remains in Carroll County Jail as of Tuesday.

The woman allegedly stabbed her boyfriend, 24-year-old Angel Asenjo Jr., once in the chest with a regular kitchen steak knife after an altercation between the two.

Green called 911 and told the dispatcher that she had stabbed her boyfriend shortly after 7 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 21. Asenjo was found to not have any weapons on him when police arrived.

The incident took place at Magnolia Lake apartments on Burns Road in Carrollton.

Green’s counsel, Carrollton attorney Jason Swindle, said during this month’s bond hearing that his client acted in self-defense, saying Asenjo was sexually assaulting the woman when she allegedly used the knife to deter him.

Assistant District Attorney John Cunningham, representing the state, disagreed that Green’s act was justified, saying that there were no signs of struggle in the kitchen and that the couple’s two roommates were at home during the fight, but did not hear Green call for help.

Green is scheduled to be arraigned in front of Kirby on April 12.

• Martinez, 31, has been indicted on five counts, including murder and aggravated assault.

The man is accused of fatally shooting a man 10 years ago in the former Brookwood Apartments in Carrollton. He eluded police until he was arrested in 2011 in Dallas, Texas.

Martinez was denied a bond reduction earlier this month by Kirby. He was granted a $400,000 bond last November.

Zuniga is alleged to have shot and killed a man in the Brookwood Apartments parking lot in 2003. An investigation revealed that the altercation started as a fistfight, but the suspect overtook the victim, produced a gun and shot him before fleeing.

He was granted the bond last year by Judge John Simpson because he had been in jail for 90 days, and his case had not yet been indicted — the judge is required to grant a bond of some amount in that situation.

During the bond reduction hearing in which Kirby denied the motion, he said if Zuniga was not indicted by the upcoming grand jury, he would grant a reduced bond. Since Martinez was indicted, he is not expected to be granted a reduced bond.

Martinez is represented by public defender Valerie Cooke, and will be arraigned in front of Kirby on April 12.
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