One of the defendants in a complicated and controversial gang
murder case will face an additional charge, according to lawyers.
Meanwhile, three other defendants in the case will have to wait at
least a week before they find out if they can post bail.
One of the defendants in a complicated and controversial gang murder case will face an additional charge, according to lawyers. Meanwhile, three other defendants in the case will have to wait at least a week before they find out if they can post bail.
Because of normal court rotations, Judge Ray Cunningham took over the homicide case involving three alleged gang members who face murder charges for contributing to death of a fellow gang member. Larry Martinez Jr., 18, was fatally shot by one of three rival gang members last November, two of which have not been arrested. Instead of just charging the one arrested alleged rival gang member – Christian Jimenez, 21 – the district attorney charged all three of Martinez’s associates for contributing to his death. They then requested Cunningham reconsider granting them bail, which the previous judge denied.
Jimenez, 21, the lone defendant on the shooting side, was arrested in June for the killing of Larry Martinez Jr. and charged with murder. He also faces charges of doing so in connection with a gang and being among the three persons who personally discharged the firearm that killed Martinez. Deputy District Attorney Troy Benson wants to add on a charge for illegally possessing a firearm the day he was arrested, though it is not clear if the gun he possessed was the same used to kill Martinez.
Judge Cunningham continued the case to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in Morgan Hill.
“I just got handed this case, and I need more time to review it,” he said Friday morning in court. Friends and family of the defendants sat quietly in the gallery watching the proceedings, including a man rocking the infant child of Heather Ashford, 18, one of the three murder defendants who was on Martinez’s side.
All four defendants have waived their rights to a speedy preliminary hearing and won’t enter pleas for another month. Their charges stem from a gang shooting that took place about 1:20 p.m. Nov. 11, 2008, when Jimenez and two other Sureno gang members allegedly shot Martinez in the chest after Martinez – brandishing a baseball bat – and two friends approached the group from behind, according to court documents. When the Surenos produced two handguns and opened fire, the two friends – Angel Solorzano and Robert Barrios – escaped in a waiting car, driven by Heather Ashford. Martinez died at the scene.
At the time of his June 4 arrest, Jimenez was also in possession of a handgun, but Benson cautioned that the gun may not have been “the gun” in the shooting – just a gun that adds to the seriousness of the case, he said.
Although Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr knew that Barrios, Solorzano and Ashford did not fire any bullets at Martinez and did not kill him directly, she invoked a rarely used law – the provocative act murder theory – to charge them with murder. She argued that by attacking the Surenos, the trio should have known that they were taking part in action that could provoke a deadly response and as such, they were equally responsible for Martinez’s death.
Barrios, 20, and Solorzano, 19 – both suspected norteno gang members, according to police – joined Ashford in requesting a bail reduction hearing. Ashford’s reason for requesting bail is particularly compelling, her family said – she was pregnant at the time of her arrest and gave birth just days after police took her into custody.
Two other suspects – Edgardo Centeno and a juvenile whose name police did not release – were with Jimenez and were involved in the shooting, police said. All three are Sureno gang members, police said.
In november, half an hour before the shooting, the three Sureno gang members threw a rock at the car Martinez and Solorzano rode in with Ashford at the wheel, according to witness reports. After a brief discussion, Ashford, Martinez and Solorzano picked up Barrios and returned to confront the Surenos, police said.
Sousa, who received more than one hundred pages of discovery, said the continuance will give him time to sort through the complicated case before the plea hearing.
