The family of Tara Romero is shocked and dismayed by the April 15 acquittal of Primitivo Hernandez, the 27-year-old Gilroyan who stood trial last month on charges of murder and attempted murder in relation to the 2011 drive-by shooting that took the Morgan Hill teen’s life.
The 12-person jury found Hernandez not guilty after deliberating for about five days following attorneys’ closing statements in the month-long trial. He has been in custody since his arrest just a few hours after the Nov. 4, 2011 shooting outside the Village Avante apartment complex at the intersection of Cosmo and Del Monte avenues.
“That stabbed us in the heart,” Tara’s father Joe Romero said of the verdict. “I’m really pissed off at the whole system. I’m totally disgusted.”
Joe Romero faithfully attended the trial—which also included suspect Fernando Mateo Lopez—throughout the month of March. He was deeply surprised by the verdict of not guilty for Hernandez, as he thought the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s case against both defendants was solid.
“We respectfully disagree with the jury’s decision” to acquit Hernandez, said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Miguel Valdovinos.
Hernandez was released from custody April 19, according to the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections website. In an April 19 court hearing, Hernandez pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault in a separate incident that occurred in Santa Clara County Jail in 2013, Valdovinos added. In that incident, Hernandez assaulted Ramon Gutierrez, who is also in custody as a suspect in the 2011 murder of Tara Romero.
After pleading no contest to that assault, Hernandez was sentenced to three years probation and received credit for time served in jail, Valdovinos said. Gutierrez suffered minor injuries in the 2013 assault and “didn’t make any helpful statements” against Hernandez. Valdovinos said he did not know why Hernandez assaulted Gutierrez.
Second suspect convicted of second degree murder
Mateo Lopez, 24 of Gilroy, was found guilty by the same jury April 15 of second degree murder in relation to Tara Romero’s death, according to Valdovinos. The jury also found him guilty of five counts of attempted murder and three counts of shooting at an inhabited dwelling, as well as enhancements for carrying out the crime as a member of a criminal street gang. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 20. Each count carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, Valdovinos said.
Mateo Lopez was tried in the same courtroom as Hernandez in Santa Clara County Superior Court.
Hernandez and Mateo Lopez faced the same list of charges, but only Mateo Lopez now faces imprisonment. The five counts of attempted murder are related to five teen victims who were shot at when a Chrysler drove by them and and one or more occupants opened fire. Three of these victims were hit by the gunfire and survived; they were friends and classmates of Tara Romero’s at Sobrato High School, and they testified in the March trial.
A total of five suspects were arrested by Morgan Hill police hours after the shooting, and have been in custody since their arrest. Ricardo Diaz, 23 of Morgan Hill, pleaded guilty to murder and testified against Hernandez and Mateo Lopez in their trial. He agreed to a minimum sentence of 25 years.
The trial for suspect Esmeling Bahena, 22 of Morgan Hill, began this week with jury selection, according to Valdovinos. Police reports said the suspects fled to Bahena’s home on Barnell Avenue after the shooting. An MHPD officer followed the Chrysler there from the scene of the shooting after the vehicle ran a stop sign on Wright Avenue.
Gutierrez, 21 of Morgan Hill, has been in custody at state mental health facilities since he was declared incompetent to stand trial after a 2012 preliminary hearing on the Tara Romero murder.
Bahena and Gutierrez are charged with murder and attempted murder, according to authorities.
While authorities said the suspects planned and carried out the drive-by shooting to settle an ongoing feud with rival Norteno gang members, the victims were not involved in gang activity.
The prosecutor and investigators who testified during the trial for Hernandez and Mateo Lopez presented mounds of evidence that connected Mateo Lopez to the shooting, including his thumbprint on the ammunition magazine of an SKS rifle identified as the murder weapon, and text messages between him and other suspects arranging the Friday evening attack—which was planned to be directed at rival gang members.
The state had less evidence connecting Hernandez to the shooting even though he was caught hiding in Bahena’s apartment building after police called out the other suspects and attempted to clear the residence the night of the shooting. His attorney Nicole Lambros argued to the jury that while Hernandez might have been affiliated with the same Sureno street gang as the other suspects in the past, and he was in the car with them during the 2011 shooting, he did not know the others were planning a drive-by shooting that night.
“When you try cases in front of a jury, anything is possible,” Valdovinos said. “The whole issue was whether or not (Hernandez) was an aider or abettor.”
Tara Romero was a 14-year-old freshman at Sobrato when she was gunned down. She and her friends had been out celebrating a birthday at Community Park earlier that evening. They were waiting for a ride home when the shooting happened, according to testimony.
