Accused shooter on trial in gang rape case

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MIAMI, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Opening arguments began Wednesday in the trial of a man accused of abducting, raping, shooting and killing an 18-year-old woman in the Miami area in 2002.

Prosecutor Laura Adams described the ordeal of Ana Maria Angel, 18, who was a recent high school graduate when she and her boyfriend were snatched in the South Beach section of Miami.

The defendant, Joel Lebron, 33, is the fourth suspect to go to trial. He could face the death penalty if convicted, The Miami Herald reported.

Adams told jurors Angel was repeatedly raped as her abductors drove north on I-95. Her boyfriend, Nelson Portobanco, was left for dead on the side of the highway with his throat cut, but he survived, Adams said.

"During all of this, she is begging, crying and pleading," Adams told the jury.

Angel was killed and her body dumped near Boca Raton because the men were afraid she could identify them, Adams said. Lebron is charged with shooting her execution style.

Three men have been convicted, with two receiving life sentences and a third a death sentence that was overturned. He is awaiting a new sentencing.

Many of the jurors chosen Monday and Tuesday said they remember the crime 10 years later, WPLG-TV, Miami, said.