Four young adults arrested for the 2008 murder of an 18-year-old
Gilroy were arraigned Monday after a judge found enough evidence to
hold them over for trial.
Four young adults arrested for the 2008 murder of an 18-year-old Gilroy were arraigned Monday after a judge found enough evidence to hold them over for trial.
On Nov. 11, 2008, Larry Martinez Jr. was shot and killed by a rival gang in broad daylight near Sixth and Church streets, just blocks from the Gilroy Police Department, according to police. Invoking a rarely-used rule – the provocative act murder theory – District Attorney Dolores Carr charged not only the man police believe pulled the trigger, alleged Sureño gang member Cristian Jimenez, but also two of Martinez’s friends and his cousin for contributing to his death for the benefit of a criminal street gang.
Robert Barrios, 21, Heather Ashford, 19, and Angel Solorzano, 20, did not intend to kill Martinez, their attorneys said. But even though they didn’t fire the gun that killed their friend and cousin, the three will stand trial for conspiracy and murder charges for contributing to Martinez’s death during a clash with a rival gang, prosecutors said. Martinez, Solorzano and Barrios were Norteño gang members, police said during the preliminary hearing. Family members denied this, however.
During the preliminary hearing, Gilroy Police Officer Michael Bolton testified extensively about gang-related tattoos found on the bodies of the male defendants and Martinez and about their criminal histories. Each has had multiple run-ins with law enforcement, and Martinez had been released from the Preston Youth Correctional Facility only a few days before his death.
But Sandra Espinoza, Solorzano’s mother, said it’s unfair to portray her son’s tattoos as gang-related, and his brushes with the law only resulted in one arrest. Bolton testified that Solorzano had “Gilroy,” “408,” and “Solorzano” tattoos. Just because he has tattoos and hung out with known gang members didn’t mean Solorzano was in a gang himself, Espinoza said.
“May he rest in peace but I don’t feel that it’s right that the courts use Larry Martinez’s criminal background against my son,” Espinoza said. “Just because they were friends doesn’t mean my son’s a gang member.”
Jimenez, 22, faces a murder charge and a felony gun possession charge for pulling the trigger of the gun that killed Martinez, according to court documents.
If convicted, the defendants could be sentenced to life in prison. They were arrested nearly a year ago, on June 8, 2008.
“What gets me is that life sentence,” said Sandra Ayala, Solorzano’s grandmother who has attended many court hearings and speaks with her grandson regularly. “I know he’s not an angel, but he had his whole life ahead of him.”
Ayala questioned the credibility of several witnesses who testified at the preliminary hearing. One witness even fingered Barrios and Solorzano as the shooters, although those two men were not carrying guns, Ayala said.
“A lot of people would just come up and say, ‘I don’t remember, I don’t recall, it’s been too long,'” Ayala said.
About half an hour before the shooting, Jimenez and two other Sureños who are still at large – Edgardo Centeno, 20, and an unnamed juvenile – threw a rock at the car Martinez and Solorzano rode in while Ashford drove, according to police. After a brief discussion, Ashford, Martinez and Solorzano picked up Barrios and returned to confront the Sureños, police said. Armed with a small wooden bat, Martinez and his friends snuck up on the Sureños from behind, provoking the rival gang members to turn and shoot, prosecutors said.
The four codefendants will appear in court 1:30 p.m. June 2 in Department 24 of the Hall of Justice in San Jose for a trial setting hearing.
