Attorneys make closing arguments in Baja beach homicide trial

A Mexico judge will deliver the final verdict one day after closing arguments in the trial over three Baja men accused of robbing and killing an American and two Australian surfers.ENSENADA, Mexico (CN) — In a final push on Thursday, prosecutors outlined events on April 27, 2024, they say led to the murder of three foreign surfers on a Baja California beach.“They said they wanted to ‘fuck up the gringos,’” a prosecutor said in closing arguments. “With senseless violence, they took them out of their tent and shot one of them who said he was married. They showed no humanity towards their victims.”Jesús Gerardo, Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús are charged with aggravated homicide, aggravated robbery, violent robbery and grand theft auto.The crimes carry a potential sentence of 168 years for Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús and more for Jesús Gerardo, who prosecutors say is the ringleader.The bodies of Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend, Carter Rhoad, were found in a makeshift well on a scenic Punta San José campsite overlooking the Pacific Ocean, two hours from Ensenada where the trial is taking place.Judge Raúl Hernández Arellan will give his verdict on Friday and has ten days after that to deliver his sentence if the verdict is guilty. Mexican trials are without a jury.The prosecution team said the attack on the surfers was premeditated. Recounting the testimony of Ari Gisell, girlfriend of Jesús Gerardo, prosecutors said she tipped him off to three foreigners camping with nice tires and cell phones. Gisell took a 20 year plea-deal in November 2025 for instigating the robbery.“The victims were in their tent when they were attacked by three men at night with pistols in their hand and were completely indefensible,” a prosecutor said.The accused, the prosecution team said, then took the tires off the victims’ Chevy Colorado, burned the truck and abandoned it.Jesús Gerardo’s stepson — who testified to being inside one of the Ford Ranger trucks used that night — said he was threatened by the attackers.“Don’t tell anyone or you’re going to wind up the same way,” the prosecution team said, recounting the stepson’s testimony.The prosecution team also linked Jesús Gerardo to a 9mm handgun found in his truck. Ballistics experts extracted a 9mm bullet from Jake Robinson’s thigh — the only bullet the ballistics experts found inside any of the bodies.Two .45 caliber casings from an unidentified weapon were left around the campsite. The prosecution claimed that Irineo Francisco “always carried a .45” with him.But the men’s defense asked the judge how the prosecution could connect the three men to the crimes when they don’t even know what caliber of weapon killed the victims.“How do we know what type of gun killed anyone. The prosecution never said which gun killed anyone because they don’t know,” said a member of the defense team. “There’s no direct evidence connecting any of the defendants to the crime. Not one drop of blood connecting the accused to the victims.”The defense team maintained there is no biological, genetic, ballistic evidence nor proof that any of them were connected with the crimes.“None of the witnesses who testified were at the scene of the crime,” said a member of the defense team, asserting that the stepson was too far away from the crime scene to have heard anything.They cast doubt on the collection of evidence, as they have been doing the entire trial: They said family members, with police, who first found the grisly campsite could have easily contaminated evidence.The crime scene had not been cordoned off for five days and state agents who found the abandoned Ford Ranger contradicted themselves multiple times, the defense claimed.The defense also suggested officials locating the handgun was possible evidence tampering or at the very least, incompetence.“This isn’t a minor detail. This shows the failings of the entire investigation,” said a member of the defense team.The parents of the brothers asked the judge to impose a maximum sentence on the accused.“The day Callum and Jake were murdered, our world stopped,” Debra Robinson, mother of the brothers, said in a statement to the judge. “We struggle to understand how three young men, even in their final hours, could be treated with such cruelty. We understand they gave up their keys and wallets then begged for their lives and asked not to be killed. To know their pleas were ignored is something we will carry with us for the rest of our lives.”Rhoad’s wife also gave an statement, and described how her deceased husband used to volunteer in programs helping at-risk youth avoid a life of crime.“I live with the pain of knowing that our future together died with him. The pain of knowing we will never build the family we wanted,” she said. “Three lives, dreams and futures were taken from the world due to these evil and senseless actions.”The three defendants sat blank-faced as they have been during almost the entire trial save for when a cop cousin testified against them.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads