Basil Willis, 36 yrs old, and Francis Petillo, 18 yrs old, appeared in court today accused of ruthlessly gunning down deliveryman 66 year old Hilberto Aragon on Tuesday afternoon.
When he was arraigned in court today, Basil Willis showed no remorse; as Magistrate Sharon Fraser read the charge of murder to him, the 36 year old started to laugh. When Magistrate Fraser asked him what was funny, Willis didn't answer.
It's funny to him but Willis along with his alleged cohort the 18-year-old Petillo were read the charge of murder and both remanded to the Hattieville prison until June 15th. The victim Hilberto Aragon was shot to death in the complex area of Lake Independence on Tuesday afternoon as he was offloading rice at a Chinese store. Aragon died from a single gunshot wound to his heart.
For some perspective on accused murderer Basil Willis, he has 31 previous run-ins with the law and was recently released from prison. Even more interesting is that his most recent arrest was just last week Wednesday for assaulting a police officer while his most recent conviction was on October 29th of last year for handling stolen goods. His rap sheet also includes convictions for theft and drug trafficking. Willis has also once been charged for committing an unnatural crime for an incident which occurred at the Hattieville prison but the victim later dropped those charges. For his most recent alleged crime, police believe the motive was robbery.