Witnesses began testifying Tuesday, July 12, about the brutal death of an Augusta man in 2018 and how Maurice L. Jenkins may have been involved.
Jenkins, 57, has pleaded not guilty in Richmond County Superior Court to charges of murder in the May 23, 2018, death of 47-year-old Joaquin Ruiz-Figuero.
Ruiz-Figuero’s body was found wrapped in a tarp behind the Milledgeville Road trailers where he, Jenkins and Keith A. Kearney, 58, lived in May 2018.
Kearney was also charged with murder, but he has died. In October 2020, he was transferred from the jail to a care center in Columbia, S.C. for palliative care. He was suffering from cancer and COVID, according to the court order for his release from jail.
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Tuesday in her opening statement to the jury, Assistant District Attorney Deshala Dixon said Jenkins and Kearney beat Ruiz-Figuero — Kearney used an iron tool and a baseball bat — before they dragged the victim’s body to the porch. It was there that Jenkins stuck a gun in the victim’s ear and fired a shot, Dixon said.
Defense attorney Peter Johnson told the jury that Jenkins and Kearney were as close as brothers, but their relationship with Ruiz-Figuero was contentious. Jenkins and Kearney allowed Ruiz-Figuero to live in a camper on their trailer site. On May 23, 2018, Jenkins woke to Kearney’s cries for help, and he found Ruiz-Figuero choking his friend, the attorney said.
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Johnson continued that it was Kearney who used the weapons, including the gun, against Ruiz-Figuero. Although Jenkins was guilty of the crime of concealing the death of another, his use of force against Ruiz-Figuero was justified because he was defending his friend, Johnson said.
Tuesday, the jury listened to the tape-recorded interview Sgt. Lucas Heise conducted with a friend of Jenkins. The day Ruiz-Figuero died, Jenkins told his friend “… He got rid of the Mexican,” that he shot him. At the time because of the victim’s extensive injuries the investigators didn’t know Ruiz-Figuero had been shot.
Testimony continues Wednesday.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
