New mother Heather Ashford’s face crumpled when Superior Court
Judge Ray Cunningham denied bail to her and her three co-defendants
in an unusual, gang-related murder case.
New mother Heather Ashford’s face crumpled when Superior Court Judge Ray Cunningham denied bail to her and her three co-defendants in an unusual, gang-related murder case.
The 18-year-old dabbed her eyes as the hour-long bail hearing came to a close and cast teary glances at her family. She gave birth in jail just days after her June arrest and the infant has been present at several hearings.
Ashford faces conspiracy and murder charges for allegedly contributing to the shooting death of her cousin, Larry Martinez, 18. Two of Martinez’s friends – Angel Solorzano, 19, and Robert Barrios, 20 – face identical charges and are Norteño gang members, police said.
A group of three Sureños – two of whom have not been captured – shot and killed Martinez last November. On top of charging the one Sureño arrested – Cristian Jimenez, 21 – the district attorney used a rarely-invoked rule, the provocative act murder theory, to charge all three of Martinez’s associates for contributing to his death.
In November, half an hour before the shooting, Jimenez and two other Sureños who are still at large – Edgardo Centeno and an unnamed juvenile – threw a rock at the car Martinez and Solorzano rode in with Ashford at the wheel, according to police. After a brief discussion, Ashford, Martinez and Solorzano picked up Barrios and returned to confront the Sureños, police said. Armed with a small bat, Martinez and his friends snuck up on the Sureños from behind, provoking the rival gang members to turn and shoot, prosecutors said.
During the hearing, Deputy District Attorney Troy Benson called on Gilroy police officer Michael Bolton to testify about the level of gang activity in Gilroy.
“It was violent, it was severe and there was a lot of it,” Bolton told the court. Bolton served on the department’s anti-crime team until recently.
Since the defendants’ arrests, however, gang activity has decreased significantly, he said. As proof, he described a recent encounter he had with a Norteño gang member from Fresno. The Norteño said he and some of his associates were going to “get the hell out of Gilroy” because Gilroy was “on lockdown,” Bolton said.
“It’s been a quiet month,” Bolton said, echoing one of his sergeants.
Defendants’ family members said they were shocked by the judge’s decision to deny bail.
“I was very surprised,” said Vinessa Lira, the mother of Barrios’ 8-month-old son who left the courtroom when her son started fussing. “We all thought everybody was going to get bail.”
Lira was one of about a dozen family members of the defendants that filed into the courtroom – a thinner crowd than at past hearings. Before opening the doors to the courtroom, a sheriff’s deputy warned the onlookers about making eye contact with the defendants.
“There are some of you who should have been asked to leave last time,” he said. At one point during the proceedings, he did instruct an onlooker to leave the courtroom.
Before the judge made his decision, Barrios’ attorney, Edward Sousa assured the court that his client was not a flight risk. Barrios did not flee after the crime but moved to Visalia to care for his dying mother several months ago, Sousa explained. Sousa further advocated for Barrios’ bail on the grounds that his client didn’t shoot anyone, wasn’t carrying a weapon and didn’t threaten anyone.
“To say he was just there is a little disingenuous,” Benson parried. Martinez’s three associates “are as liable for his murder as the people that had the guns,” he said.
The victim’s mother and grandmother – who are also Ashford’s relatives – also filed declarations on behalf of Ashford and Solorzano, absolving them from any responsibility in Martinez’s death. If Ashford were to be released, she would live with her grandmother and work on obtaining her high school diploma, said her attorney, Alfredo Morales.
Ashford has “strong ties to the community,” a clean record and “the least amount of involvement someone could possibly have” in the crime, Morales said. He requested a $100,000 bail.
In response to the other co-defendants’ requests for various bail amounts, Jimenez’s attorney, Alternate Defender Jessica Delgado argued that setting disparate bails for each of the defendants would be “akin to directing a verdict.”
Although Cunningham didn’t delve deeply into the reasons for his decision, he and Benson reiterated that the charges, no matter how unusual, were for homicide, an offense that carries a sentence of 25 years to life, and that, despite the defense’s requests, the court was not obligated to grant bail.
The defendants will next be in court 9 a.m. Sept. 25.
