A federal judge will have to decide whether to dismiss an 11-count indictment against a Killeen woman accused of helping her boyfriend cover up the murder of a Fort Hood soldier last year.
On Tuesday, defense attorneys for 23-year-old Cecily Aguilar filed a motion to dismiss a second indictment against her. Aguilar has been held in the McLennan County Jail since her arrest last year on federal charges related to the murder of Vanessa Guillen.
In the 33-page motion, defense attorneys argue that the new indictment against their client should be dismissed for not being detailed, for failing to adequately state the offense and for violating the Fifth Amendment’s double jeopardy clause.
“The flaw with this superseding indictment is not an insufficiency of evidence; it is an absolute absence of factual allegations,” according to the defense motion. “Without those allegations, it is impossible to say whether Ms. Aguilar will be tried on the same charges that the grand jury indicted.”
As of Friday, U.S. attorneys have not filed a response to Aguilar’s motion. No new hearings or a trial date have been set by the court in her case.
It is not the first time that Aguilar’s defense team has tried to dismiss an indictment. After she first was indicted on three counts on July 14, 2020, her attorneys filed a motion to dismiss that indictment. After Aguilar was re-indicted on July 13, that previous motion became moot, according to federal court documents.
Aguilar is facing four counts of false statement or representation; three counts of accessory after the fact; two counts of tampering with documents or proceedings; and one count each of conspiracy to tamper with documents or proceedings, and destruction, alteration or falsification of records in a federal investigation.
Aguilar pleaded not guilty on Aug. 11.
All of the counts stem from the ways in which Aguilar allegedly helped her boyfriend, 20-year-old Army Spc. Aaron Robinson, dispose of Guillen’s body after Army investigators say he had killed her with a hammer on April 22, 2020. Police said that Aguilar repeatedly lied to investigators to cover up the crime.
Months after Guillen, 20, was reported missing on April 23, 2020, her remains were discovered on June 30, 2020, by contractors working along the Leon River near Belton.
Robinson died on July 1, 2020, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he was confronted by Killeen police.
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