Crime lab technicians, eyewitness victims, Morgan Hill police officers, a telecommunications records specialist and even the family member of one of the suspects have testified so far in the trial for two of 14-year-old Tara Romero’s alleged murderers.
The trial for Fernando Mateo Lopez, 24 of Gilroy, and Primitivo Hernandez, 27 of San Jose, started March 2. It is expected to continue at least until the end of this month at the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose.
Deputy District Attorney Miguel Valdovinos continues to present the state’s case and call witnesses to testify about the incidents leading up to and the investigation following the fateful night of Nov. 4, 2011.
That was when Romero, a freshman at Sobrato High School at the time, was killed in a drive-by shooting outside the Village Avante apartment complex, near the corner of Cosmo and Del Monte avenues. Three of her classmates were injured by the same gunfire. Five suspected Sureño street gang members opened fire on Romero and her friends, mistakenly targeting them to settle an ongoing feud with a rival gang, according to authorities.
During Santa Clara County Criminalist Trevor Gillis’ testimony March 10, he explained he tested tactical samples from the suspects’ hands and vehicle—a Chrysler 300—for gunshot residue. MPHD detectives supplied those samples to the county crime lab.
Gillis said he “detected particles that are characteristic of gunshot residue” on the samples taken from all five suspects, as well as on the sample from the exterior of the vehicle.
Gillis described gunshot residue as the “microscopic leftover material from the discharge of a firearm.” Such materials are likely to be found on “someone who shot a firearm or was in close proximity to a (discharged) firearm,” Gillis noted.
Under cross-examination by Hernandez’ attorney Nicole Lambros, Gillis added that gunshot residue could be transferred from someone who recently shot a firearm to another who had not touched a gun, for example by shaking hands.
Officers detail response to shots fired
Earlier in the trial, Morgan Hill police officers testified about their involvement in the response and investigation of the fatal shooting.
On March 3, former MHPD Officer Brandon Richards testified he was on patrol the night of Nov. 4, 2011, when he saw a gold Chrysler 300 roll through a stop sign at the intersection of Spring and Del Monte avenues.
Richard started to pursue the vehicle for the traffic violation, not immediately knowing that its occupants might have been involved in a deadly drive-by shooting.
Before he caught up to the Chrysler, however, Richards heard over the police radio that a shooting had occurred and the suspects fled in a gold car.
“When the call came out, I felt that vehicle was involved (in the shooting),” Richards said on the witness stand.
The vehicle was out of Richards’ sight by the time he turned around, but moments later he found the Chrysler parked illegally outside an apartment complex on Barnell Avenue, he testified.
Richards then approached the now unoccupied Chrysler on foot and saw a “revolver type” handgun and a spent shell casing on the floorboard behind the front passenger’s seat, he said.
The officer called for backup and officers set a perimeter around the apartment, suspecting the alleged shooters were inside. After securing a search warrant about 5 a.m. Nov. 5, Richards and other officers entered the residence. Richards said he quickly noticed a blue belt on a living room sofa, and the word “Sureño” written on the interior wall above a bedroom window in the two-story apartment. The color blue is often associated with the Sureño street gang.
The victims in the Nov. 4, 2011 drive-by shooting were not associated with any criminal street gang activity, according to police.
MHPD Cpl. Scott Purvis testified that he arrived to the apartment about 11 p.m. as a member of the SWAT team, which was assigned to “call out” the suspects and anyone else who was inside the Barnell Avenue building. Just before midnight, four of the suspects and two of their family members exited the building without incident.
Later, after Purvis and another officer “cleared” the apartment and remained behind in the downstairs kitchen, they heard sounds coming from upstairs. They determined the noise was coming from a bedroom closet.
“I look inside the closet, and I see clothes moving,” Purvis said. The movement was coming from a shelf about six feet high. Recognizing that it was a person hiding, they told the subject to show his hands. That’s when they discovered it was Hernandez hiding “with quite a bit of neatly folded clothing on top of him,” Purvis said.
A resident of the Village Avante apartment complex, who was 12 years old at the time of the shooting, also testified March 3. He told the prosecutor and defense attorneys that he was sitting on his living room couch watching television when the 2011 shooting happened.
He said he heard tires screeching outside and a series of gunshots. At the same instant, he “heard (a) bullet impact the wall and penetrate a couple walls” inside his apartment.
After running upstairs to alert his brother of the commotion and call his father, the witness saw a bullet on the bathroom floor, where it apparently came to rest after entering the residence and striking at least two walls.
Jury to determine suspects’ fate
The trial is taking place in Superior Court Judge Linda Clark’s courtroom in San Jose.
The 12-person jury and five alternates consist of eight women and nine men.
Lopez and Hernandez, who are charged with murder and attempted murder, sat quietly through the proceedings, dressed neatly in buttoned-down shirts and slacks. They were not handcuffed or restrained during the testimonies.
The other three suspects—Esmeling Bahena, 22 of Morgan Hill, Ricardo Diaz, 23 of Morgan Hill and Ramon Gutierrez, 21 of Morgan Hill—will be subject to separate court proceedings.
Diaz pleaded guilty to the charge of murder, and is expected to testify against Lopez and Hernandez, according to authorities.
