Anthony Frausto’s attorney hopes to reach ‘agreement’ with
prosecution
Morgan Hill – The attorney for a Morgan Hill teen accused of killing a 19-year-old Gilroy man hopes the prosecution and defense can come to “some type of agreement” before the case goes to trial.
Andrew Tursi, defense attorney for Anthony Frausto, 18, spoke at the preliminary hearing Thursday, at the Santa Clara County Superior Court in San Martin. The hearing was continued to Tuesday.
“Look at him,” he said after the hearing, referring to Frausto’s youthful appearance. “And with him, what you see is what you get.”
Frausto did not speak at the hearing, during which Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Kenneth L. Shapero listened to testimony from several witnesses before he announced the hearing would resume Tuesday morning.
Luis Bautista was murdered on Sept. 30, 2005. At approximately 7pm, witnesses said they saw Bautista fleeing from four or five suspects. The suspects were described as being in their late teens or early 20s. Bautista was reportedly a member of the Sureño gang and moved from Mexico to Morgan Hill less than a year before the shooting.
Witnesses reported hearing four shots as Bautista ran behind the Safeway grocery store in Tennant Station Shopping Center in Morgan Hill. After Bautista fell to the ground, the suspects fled, some in vehicles and some on foot. A witness took Bautista to Saint Louise Regional Hospital. He was later flown to Regional Medical Center in San Jose, where he died from wounds to his arm, chest, abdomen and thigh.
Frausto was arrested a little more than 48 hours after the killing, on Oct. 2. He walked into the police station, telling officers he wanted to “turn himself in,” because he had heard they were looking for him.
After he was interviewed and arrested, he was booked into Santa Clara County Jail without bail. The Times received numerous anonymous phone calls from people who alleged Frausto was “taking the fall” for someone else.
After the preliminary hearing Thursday, Frausto’s family and friends, who were in the courtroom, declined comment.
Tursi said after Thursday’s preliminary hearing he believes there is a case for self-defense, as alleged gang members with knives were involved in the confrontation. Tursi said Frausto told him he had been beaten up many times by gang members and believed he would be killed because the group of gang members he encountered Sept. 30 carried knives.
Assistant District Attorney Stuart Scott said the hearing Thursday went as he thought it would.
“It’s about what we expect with gang cases,” he said. “We’ll have, on Tuesday, our expert gang witness, (Morgan Hill Police street crimes investigator) Mindy Zen.”
An alleged gang member has also been asked to return to testify Tuesday.
“We want to lock him into his testimony,” Scott said.
If Shapero determines there is enough evidence to take the case to trial, Scott said, there will be “a lot more detail” to the testimony. He said he could not be sure, at this point, if the case would indeed go to trial. But, he said, he would be prepared whatever happens.
