Angel Ayala Roque "Do you think anyone returns a van with two boxes of cocaine in it?" he asked jurors.Does anyone return $1 million knowingly?"

Roque, 46, of 50 Glen Ave., Methuen, is charged with two counts of trafficking cocaine over 200 grams and one count of conspiracy. He was arrested in September 2006 after returning a minivan to a rental agency, allegedly leaving behind two boxes containing 21 2.2-pound bricks of cocaine.Facing 40 years in prison on cocaine trafficking and conspiracy charges, Angel Ayala Roque's case was handed to the jury that began deliberating his fate yesterday afternoon. He could receive 15 years in prison, the mandatory minimum sentence for each trafficking charge, and 10 years on the conspiracy charge.During their investigation, police found 30 more 2.2-pound bricks of cocaine in a locked bedroom at the Glen Avenue apartment.John Cicilline, a lawyer for Roque, urged jurors during his closing argument to apply common sense to the deliberations."The commonwealth needs to prove beyond a reasonable doubt he exercised dominion and control over the contraband, and that he knew it was there," Cicilline said.
"Do you think anyone returns a van with two boxes of cocaine in it?" he asked jurors. "The commonwealth will tell you the cocaine was worth over $1 million. Does anyone return $1 million knowingly?"He asked jurors if they thought Roque knew the cocaine was in the van, would he have admitted he was the man who returned the vehicle when arrested on Glen Avenue in front of the apartment building?
Cicilline reminded jurors there was no fingerprint evidence to show Roque touched the cocaine, which was packaged in cellophane, and there was no evidence showing he knew the cocaine was in the van.
He attacked the investigation conducted by Lawrence and state police, saying they failed to write reports documenting parts of the case and did not do enough to look into others involved in the case once they arrested Roque.
Assistant District Attorney Michael Hickey said Cicilline, with his pointed criticism of the investigation, was suggesting that police were collectively making up their testimony.
"If that's so, couldn't they have done a better job?" Hickey asked. "If they truly were out to get Mr. Roque, couldn't they have done a better job?"
He told jurors that on Sept. 12, 2006, the day he and codefendant Nicole Paquette of Haverhill were arrested, was a "very fluid event. The investigation was dropped in the lap of Lawrence and then state police. When the police went to work that day they had no idea they would be dealing with the likes of Nicole Paquette or this defendant."Hickey said Roque had access, whenever he chose, to the house where the cocaine was found.
He pointed out there was no furniture in the Glen Avenue apartment and none of the amenities that would be expected in an apartment used as a residence, but in addition to the cocaine, investigators found $123,000 in cash there.
"Does that speak to the purpose of what the house was being used for?" he asked.
"I suggest to you that all of this evidence is evidence you can touch, see and compare to the testimony. I suggest it points to him, the man who brought it to the location," Hickey said.
Judge John Lu spoke to jurors at length before they broke for lunch and then began their deliberations.
Paquette, 32, a mother of four, was sentenced in February to 15 years in prison for her conviction on a charge of trafficking cocaine over 200 grams.

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