The judge in a controversial and complicated fatal gang shooting
case delayed the case until Friday as she waited for background
reports, said Amy Cornell, public information officer for the Santa
Clara County Office of the District Attorney.
The judge in a controversial and complicated fatal gang shooting case delayed the case until Friday as she waited for background reports, said Amy Cornell, public information officer for the Santa Clara County Office of the District Attorney.
In this case, three alleged gang members are being charged with contributing to death of a fellow gang member and a man allegedly in a rival gang is also charged with murdering the same man. Recently, three of the defendants requested that the judge reconsider their bail, which has been denied. However, Cornell did not know whether the documents were being sought to help in the reconsidered bail hearing.
Either way, the documents were not ready, Cornell said.
“This is pretty common,” said Cornell.
The judge continued the case to 9 a.m. Friday in Department 90 of the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill.
The four co-defendants waived their right to a speedy preliminary hearing and won’t enter pleas for another month. The three defendants – who some family members said were targets of crime, rather than the perpetrators themselves – requested a judge to rethink her decision to deny bail.
“They’re asking to have bail reduced or set at a monetary value,” said Deputy District Attorney Troy Benson.
“My client is more of a victim than anything else,” said Edward Sousa, a private attorney appointed by the court to represent Robert Barrios, who faces a murder charge. “He’s not a perpetrator.”
Barrios’ charges stem from a gang shooting that took place about 1:20 p.m. Nov. 11, 2008, when Cristian Jimenez and two other Sureño gang members shot Martinez in the chest after Larry Martinez – brandishing a baseball bat – Angel Solorzano and Barrios approached the group from behind, according to court documents. When the Sureños produced two handguns and opened fire, Solorzano and Barrios escaped in a waiting car, driven by Heather Ashford. Martinez, 18, died at the scene.
Although Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr knew that Barrios, Solorzano and Ashford did not fire any bullets at Martinez and did not kill him directly, she invoked a rarely used law – the provocative act murder theory – to charge them with murder. She argued that by attacking the Sureños, the trio should have known that they were taking part in action that could provoke a deadly response and as such, they were equally responsible for Martinez’s death.
Barrios, 20, and Heather, 19 – both suspected Norteño gang members, according to police – joined Ashford, 18, in requesting a bail reduction hearing.
Ashford’s reason for requesting bail is particularly compelling, her family said – she was pregnant at the time of her arrest and gave birth just days after police took her into custody.
Jimenez, 21, rounds out the list of defendants who face murder charges in connection with the death of Martinez. Three Sureño gang members, including Jimenez and two outstanding suspects – Edgardo Centeno and a juvenile whose name police did not release – were involved in the shooting, police said.
In November, half an hour before the shooting, the three Sureño gang members threw a rock at the car Martinez and Solorzano rode in with Ashford at the wheel, according to witness reports. After a brief discussion, Ashford, Martinez and Solorzano picked up Barrios and returned to confront the Sureños, police said.
Sousa, who received more than one hundred pages of discovery, said the continuance will give him time to sort through the complicated case before the plea hearing.
“It’s the first case of its kind in the county that I know of,” he said outside the courtroom. As an attorney who practices in Santa Clara County, Sousa said he didn’t have any experience dealing with a charge of the kind.
Martinez’s and Ashford’s family said they were shocked to learn that Martinez’s friends and cousin were arrested for his murder and they are still struggling to cope with the loss of their son and brother.
“It’s opening old wounds,” said Sky Martinez, 20, the victim’s sister, at a prior hearing. “It’s making healing harder than it should be.”
The defendants are scheduled to enter pleas 1:30 p.m. July 29 in Department 109 of the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill.
