Morris County Prosecutors Ready for Zarate Trial

October 30, 2008: The Morris County Prosecutor's Office has secured four murder convictions since March and is seeking a fifth as the Jonathan Zarate case goes to trial in just two weeks after their last homicide win.

On Monday, prosecutors landed their fourth conviction as a jury of five men and seven women convicted 43-year-old Porfirio Saravia Jimenez for the May 2001 murder of 10-year-old Walter Enrique Contreras Valenzuela in Morristown. The verdict was announced after nine hours and 35 minutes of deliberations following nine days of testimony and one day of closings before Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto.

The counts include first degree murder, felony murder, kidnapping, attempted aggravated sexual assault and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. When he is sentenced on Nov. 21, he is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Following the verdict, Prosecutor Robert Bianchi said, "This guilty verdict was a long time coming - some seven years, five months and five days since the body of 10-year-old Walter was discovered on the banks of the Whippany River.

"Now Porfirio Jimenez faces life in prison for a senseless, unimaginable and violent crime that devastated a hardworking family and the Morris County community.

"I want to add a special thanks to Morristown Police Chief Peter Demnitz, the Morristown Police Department, the county sheriff's staff, members of the my office's general investigations and major crimes units and my office's victim witness unit for working tirelessly to help the family cope with the death of their little boy."

The case began when Walter failed to return home on May 20, 2001. Two days later, his body was discovered in a wooded area off Cory Road in Morristown. After an intensive investigation, the defendant was linked to the crime through DNA evidence located at the crime scene.

"This verdict was the end result of skillful police work and evidence gathering and a thorough and moving presentation of the case to a jury by Supervising Assistant Prosecutors John McNamara and Maggie Calderwood. McNamara and Calderwood performed phenomenally and with the highest degree of professional excellence," he said.

In March, a jury listened to Executive Assistant Prosecutor Robert Lane try the James Howard Vaughan case before convicting Vaughan, 56, for the murder of Maxine McCaden in Morristown. He was later sentenced by Ahto to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In April, McNamara and Assistant Prosecutor Tia Manochio secured the conviction of George Melendez in the October 2003 death of his estranged wife, Barbara, who was found shot to death in her minivan at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall. Melendez was sentenced in May to life in prison and must serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Three months later, McNamara and Assistant Prosecutor Peter Foy listened to a jury convict Omar Shaheer Thomas in the double homicide that took place at the FuncoLand video game store in Roxbury in December of 2002. He was later sentenced to life in prison.

Next up is the Zarate case. Jonathan Zarate is accused of killing and dismembering a 16-year-old Randolph girl in July 2005, next door neighbor Jennifer Parks. Zarate's younger brother, James, joined in the attack and assisted in the aftermath. The brothers will be tried separately, with the older brother's trial set for Nov. 10.

Bianchi noted, "This office will not slow down from our commitment to the community and victims' families to treat every case as aggressively as we can within the parameters of the law. We will move on to our next one, as our staff is constantly preparing for these serious cases, so that we can hopefully sustain convictions as quickly as the system will allow. When the bell rings, we are there to answer the call, prepared to do what is legally required to prevail for our victims."