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Prosecution Continues Case In "Joe Cool" Trial

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Sep 17, 2008 10:07 am US/Eastern

Prosecution Continues Case In "Joe Cool" Trial

Captain Or Wife May Have Been Alive When Thrown Overboard

MIAMI (CBS News) ― Prosecutors in the Joe Cool murder trial will continue laying out their case on Wednesday against one of the men accused of murdering the captain and crew of the Miami charter boat.

The prosecution team, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gilbert, is trying to convince the jury that Guillermo Zarabozo, 20, plotted with co-defendant Kirby Archer, 36, to steal or hijack the boat at any cost.

Tuesday on the stand, FBI Special Agent David Nuñez said Zarabozo originally told him that the Joe Cool was attacked by gunmen who allegedly killed the crew but left him and Archer alive. Zarabozo reportedly said under federal questioning that he was ordered by the gunmen to throw the bodies overboard; in doing so he noticed that the captain, Jake Branam, was still alive.

Nuñez testified when he originally questioned Archer, he told a tale of gunmen but it was Branam's wife Kelly who was still alive when she was thrown overboard.

The two men later admitted that they were ones who killed the crew.

Archer, who's wanted in Arkansas on robbery charges, accepted a plea deal from prosecutors in July and admitted to participating in the murders of the Joe Cool crew. He said he shot and killed the Branams, but it was Zarabozo who killed Gamble and Kairy. In exchange for his guilty plea, he will not face the death penalty. Archer will be sentenced October, 2nd.

Zarabozo's defense attorneys, Anthony Natale and Michael Caruso, maintain their client was a victim of Archer who they describe as master manipulator who solely planned to hijack the boat.

"He was just as much a hijacking victim," Natale said of Zarabozo in his opening statement. "This is a case about how a cunning and devious man was able to quickly kill four people. That man was Kirby Archer."

Natale said Zarabozo didn't know that Archer planned to seize the boat and head for Cuba when they chartered it on September 22th, 2007. According to Natale, Zarabozo thought they were going to Bimini to take a security job Archer claimed to have with a CIA connection.

Zarabozo faces life in prison if convicted of four counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery and violations of maritime laws.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)

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