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Gruesome details never made public in the 2004 beating death of a resident of an exclusive Northeast Heights neighborhood were enough to prompt a horrified juror into begging off the case during opening arguments this morning.

Ernest Jose Gallegos, 46, described by law enforcement officials as a habitual criminal with a lengthy history of robberies and a possible connection to a 1986 homicide, is charged with first-degree murder and six other counts in the death of James Hogan.

The murder case, which made the upscale, gated community of Tanoan suddenly seem less safe from horrific crime, took two years to come to trial before state District Judge Neil Candelaria, in part because of turnovers among Gallegos' public defenders. Mark Earnest, his fourth, represented him today.

In court today, Deputy District Attorney David Waymire described the night of Aug. 24, 2004, which began with a quiet dinner out to celebrate Hogan's 57th birthday and ended with his bludgeoning death at the hands of a black-clad, ski-masked man armed with a club and a gun.

Waymire said the intruder told Hogan and his wife, Carole, "`I'm here to kill you, but if I get enough money and valuables, maybe I won't.'

"They gave him everything they had, but it wouldn't be enough to save Jim's life," Waymire told the jury of eight men and seven women.

After breaking into their home at 11300 Woodmar Lane N.E., the intruder used plastic zip ties to bind the thumbs, wrists and ankles of Hogan, a 57-year-old retired Sandia National Laboratories employee, and his wife.

He duct-taped their eyes shut, Waymire said, and talked constantly about wanting their valuables and a combination to the safe. He threatened to kill them if they didn't comply, Waymire said.

Carole Hogan, the first witness called today, said the intruder also said he was "there to kill Jim for some awful thing that Jim had done to someone else."

Prosecutors say Gallegos may have sought revenge against Hogan for accusing him of stealing a watch while Gallegos, a mirror and glass installer, was working in the home on a remodeling job six weeks before, the complaint states. Hogan later found the watch in the safe, according to the criminal complaint.

Waymire told jurors that even after getting the safe combination, the intruder wrapped Hogan's face and head in plastic bags and duct tape "for no other reason than to torture Jim."

Carol Hogan testified the intruder took her husband into the garage. She then heard four loud thuds, saying she believed it was the sound of the club striking the concrete floor.

She broke into tears when asked if she still believes that was the sound she heard.

"I think what I heard next, it was just him beating Jim to death."

Original reports indicted Hogan had been shot. That did not appear to be the case.

Albuquerque police had Gallegos in custody briefly outside the Tanoan perimeter wall. But before he could be handcuffed, Gallegos escaped by leaping back over the wall and running through the neighborhood on Academy Road Northeast.

But during that brief detention, police got his driver's license, and now say they have DNA that connects him with Hogan's death.

Gallegos eluded capture for nine months despite heavy media attention, including a segment on "America's Most Wanted." He also ranked No. 2 on the U.S. Marshals Service list in New Mexico.

He was captured in Juarez, Mexico.

Gallegos was a suspect in the 1986 shooting death of Denver businessman Guy Funkhouser, who was found dead in the parking lot of a Menaul Boulevard motel. Police say they have never compiled sufficient evidence against Gallegos to charge him.

Family members have said Gallegos is a religious man who worked for the church, ran his own glass business and kept away from drugs, cigarettes and gambling.

Meanwhile, Gallegos' wife, Renee Gallegos, is still awaiting the outcome of a federal lawsuit she filed in 2004 against Albuquerque police agents Rob DeBuck and Joe Martinez and the city.

She charged that police searching for her husband in their home at 212 Cromwell Ave. S.W. caused extensive damage and traumatized her and their son, Isaac, then 3, when officers pointed guns at him. The case, before U.S. District Judge Judith Hererra, is pending.

As Waymire was addressing the jury today, one juror began gesturing that she was in distress.

Judge Candelaria halted the proceedings and asked all jurors but one young woman to leave. She told the judge she would not be able to sit through the trial.

Gallegos' attorney asked the judge to declare a mistrial. Candelaria denied that request, but let the juror off the case.

In his brief, opening statement, defense attorney Earnest asked jurors to be the judges in the case and be skeptical about the evidence that he called "almost too good to be true for the prosecution."

"That story before has been untested," he said of the prosecution's version of the case. "I will test it."

The trial is expected to continue most of the week.