Nephew pleads guilty to manslaughter of uncle

Arturo Ek

A nephew, who was being tried for a second time for the murder of his uncle, chose to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in the Orange Walk session of the Supreme Court.  He is Arturo Ek, who was represented by Attorney, Michelle Trapp-Zuniga and Baja Shoman, both from Legal Advice and Services Center.  Ek was charged for the murder of his uncle, Eugenio Tzul which occurred on November eighteenth, 2007. He was first convicted of the murder in June 2010 before Justice Michelle Arana. But he appealed his conviction before the Court of Appeal and was granted a retrial. Two days after the retrial started, the accused decided to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter on the advice of his attorneys. On November 2007, Tzul was murdered; his nephew confessed to the murder by allegedly strangling and then sodomizing him with an antenna. While Ek was convicted of the murder on appeal his attorney, Simeon Sampson argued that there should have been more evidence about the wire that Tzul was strangled with. Sampson also argued that Ek was drinking at the time and that the level of intoxication might have caused him to lose control. Sentencing for Ek has been deferred to May twenty-second, 2014 when mitigation will be made on his behalf by his attorneys