Gilroy
– A Salinas gangster was convicted Thursday of attempted murder
– years after he shot a Spanish-speaking man outside a Forest
Street apartment.
Gilroy – A Salinas gangster was convicted Thursday of attempted murder – years after he shot a Spanish-speaking man outside a Forest Street apartment.
Leon Martinez, 25, stared ahead as the court clerk read the verdict. The jury found Martinez guilty of premeditated attempted murder, willfully discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and doing both to profit a criminal street gang. Saddled with those charges, Martinez faces 35 years to life in prison, attorneys said.
Jurors split over a lesser charge of causing great bodily injury. After discussing the issue with both attorneys and Martinez, Judge Kenneth Shapero scuttled the charge.
His crime was senseless – except by gang logic. Witnesses said Martinez drove up to a Forest Street apartment complex on Aug. 1, 2005, and fired at three strangers after they answered his questions in Spanish. Two large-caliber bullets hit Abelino Hernandez, then 22, ripping through his side and his thigh.
To police, it was a sadly familiar crime. Norteño gangsters target rival Sureños and innocent Mexican-born “scraps,” attacking them to build a reputation in blood. Their signature color is red, the color witnesses said Martinez was wearing when he pulled up and shot Hernandez.
Police chased Martinez in his car, then on foot, searching 13 homes before they found him, locked in a bathroom of an IOOF Avenue home. The homeowners didn’t even know he was there.
Prosecutor Stuart Scott praised the jury for returning “a proper verdict.”
“We have to take these drive-by shootings seriously,” he said. “Innocent men, women and children are getting hurt.”
In his closing argument, Scott called the case “crystal-clear.” Martinez’ fingerprints were uncovered on the gun, his DNA was found in a red stocking cap, and gunshot residue sprinkled his clothes and his hand. Hernandez identified Martinez as the man who shot him, causing “the most traumatic experience of his life,” said Scott. As a Norteño gangster, he said, he was out to kill.
“Norteños exist to have violent confrontations with Sureños and scraps,” Scott said.
Defense attorney Steve DeFilippis picked at Scott’s argument. The fingerprints weren’t in the right place, he argued – and other fingerprints were found on that gun. If Martinez had shot that gun, he insisted, there would have been more gunshot residue. Other people’s DNA was found in that cap. And on the day he was shot, Hernandez couldn’t identify Martinez as the gunman.
DeFilippis questioned whether another person might have been with Martinez in the car, and fired the shots – a suggestion Scott ridiculed in his closing remarks, saying, “There’s as much evidence that Scotty’s beaming the defendant into the car seat, as [there is that] someone else is in that car.” None of the witnesses described a second person.
Whoever fired the shots, DeFilippis said, didn’t plan to kill Hernandez.
“The shooter’s got three shots left, but he doesn’t get out and finish him off,” DeFilippis argued during his closing statement. “He’s at point-blank range, but he doesn’t hit the vital organs.”
Ultimately, jurors sided with Scott. Deliberations paused briefly Wednesday, after one juror sent a note, asking if feeling “empathy over and above the evidence” should nudge him off a jury. During jury selection, the man revealed that a relative had once frequented Sunnyvale gangs. After quizzing the juror, Judge Shapero opted to let him remain, provided he kept his emotions in check, and judged the case on the facts.
Outside the courtroom, DeFilippis seemed drained.
“It’s unfortunate that when a jury decides a case like this, they don’t know what the consequences are,” he said. “He could get 35 years to life.”
The case has been referred to Adult Probation.
