San Martin
– A 20-year-old Morgan Hill man was convicted of first degree
murder Tuesday morning, after the nine woman, three man jury
deliberated about two and a half hours.
San Martin – A 20-year-old Morgan Hill man was convicted of first degree murder Tuesday morning, after the nine woman, three man jury deliberated about two and a half hours.
Anthony Frausto faces 50 years to life in prison when he is sentenced July 23, according to Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott.
“You can’t arm yourself, put on a red shirt and put yourself out there as a gang member, shoot someone and expect to get away with it,” Scott said Tuesday after the verdict was read. “I hope people are paying attention, I hope this sends a message that this will not be tolerated. If you go out there as a gang member and commit violent acts, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
After a trial that lasted about a week, jurors brought in a verdict of first degree murder with a gang enhancement against Frausto, who admitted shooting Luis Bautista, 19, of Gilroy just after 9pm Sept. 30, 2005.
Frausto, who admits being a Norteño gang member, and several friends were on their way to the movie theater in Tennant Station shopping center when a pickup truck pulled up behind them in the parking lot behind JoAnn’s Fabrics and Safeway grocery store. A group who appeared to be Sureño gang members got out of the truck and confronted the other group.
After the “trash talking,” gunshots rang out, and Bautista went down. The gang members scattered, but two of the Sureños returned, got Bautista and drove him to Saint Louise Regional Hospital. He was later flown to Regional Medical Center in San Jose, where he died from his wounds.
During the trial, defense attorney Andrew Tursi put only Frausto on the stand. Frausto testified that Bautista had a knife and that he fired the gun only after Bautista “came at” him because he feared he would be stabbed. Tursi told jurors during closing arguments that they should return a verdict of “not guilty” because Frausto acted in self defense.
Scott called 10 witnesses during the course of the trial, including an off-duty Sheriff’s deputy and his son who witnessed the shooting, a self-proclaimed Sureño gang member who was part of the group that confronted Frausto’s group and several Morgan Hill Police Department officers who worked on the case.
After the verdict was read Tuesday, Frausto’s mother, who requested that she be identified only as “Anthony’s mom,” was visibly shocked. She sobbed uncontrollably as she said she had some things she wanted to say.
“I hope that the Morgan Hill police gang task force does something about educating people about gangs,” she said. “The community, but especially parents and kids in school need to know about gangs, about how dangerous they are, about how prevalent they are. We have programs in school to educate kids about AIDS, about being gay, this really needs to happen. And it needs to start in elementary school.”
Rebecca Frausto, Anthony’s older sister who attended the trial daily with her mother, said the family has suffered, but she knows the Bautista family is also suffering.
“I am sorry for the other family, my heart goes out to them,” she said. “This has been a very difficult time for all of us. Maybe now we can start to heal. This has been a hard process, and I know healing won’t be easy. I just want people to know that my brother is a good kid. He doesn’t need to be (in prison) for that long. I know he needs to be there, but I think this punishment is excessive.”
Tursi was unavailable for comment by press time Tuesday.
