Jury hears meth culture tale of death.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

Was the death of Roger James Dausel murder, or the "unintended consequences" of a blow he suffered from 22-year-old Gonzalo Barbosa- Salgado?

That is the question facing a Lane County Circuit Court jury in the trial of Barbosa-Salgado, which opened Thursday.

Whatever the outcome, Deputy Lane County District Attorney Erik Hasselman warned jurors that the case will be "an eye-opener about what goes on in our community. This is all about the meth culture."

On that point, and on most of the facts of the case, he and defense lawyer Dan Koenig agree.

In an opening statement to jurors, Koenig said most of the witnesses in the case are enmeshed in drugs.

"The focus of their life - the things they steal from others, the things they steal from each other - are all directed toward one thing: getting more drugs," Koenig said.

It was theft that brought Barbosa-Salgado to a Springfield apartment where Dausel was living on May 8, the lawyers agreed.

Dausel, 22, was on probation for drug possession, car theft and burglary. He recently had taken a computer, a bike and other goods from an acquaintance. Barbosa-Salgado offered to get the property back for the acquaintance.

Barbosa-Salgado went to the apartment, smoked methamphetamine with others there, and waited until Dausel returned in the late afternoon, Koenig said. Barbosa-Salgado then called a friend to join him in collecting the property. He then phoned two women to drive him, his friend and Dausel across town to pick up the computer, Koenig said.

Things soon went awry, according to Hasselman.

As Dausel sat between the two men in the back seat, the woman driver heard a strange sound. She turned to see blood splattered on her arm and Dausel slumped forward, bleeding profusely and unresponsive, Hasselman said.

She also saw Barbosa-Salgado holding a weapon, believed to be a telescoping 18-inch tapered steel club like those commonly issued to police officers.

Hasselman said evidence will show the small end of the club entered Dausel's right eye socket and pierced his brain, leaving a piece of bone from the eye socket area jammed inside the back of his skull.

Barbosa-Salgado then ordered the women, who were "freaking out," to drive a few blocks away, where Barbosa-Salgado dumped the critically injured Dausel in an alley, Hasselman said. Dausel lingered in a hospital for a month before dying from the injury.

After his arrest, Barbosa-Salgado told an investigator that he struck Dausel in the stomach while holding the weapon vertically in his fist, and that Dausel impaled himself when he reacted to the punch. Hasselman said medical evidence will contradict that claim.

However, Koenig said evidence about the blow will be key to the case. If jurors believe Barbosa-Salgado intended to kill Dausel, then they will convict for murder, Koenig said. But if they believe the death was unintended, then they will convict for first-degree manslaughter, he said.

Murder carries a mandatory 25-year prison term. First-degree manslaughter carries a mandatory 10-year term.

"The defense's case can be summed up in two words," Koenig told jurors: "Unintended consequences."