Anthony Aguilera charged with multiple counts
San Martin – The attempted murder trial of Anthony Aguilera, a suspected Norteño gang member, is set to begin early next week after jury selection is finalized at Santa Clara County Superior Court.
The 22-year-old Gilroy resident is charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into an inhabited vehicle and evading a police officer.
Aguilera is the primary suspect in the stabbing of a 24-year-old San Martin resident Scott Bargar in a drug deal gone bad at the Extended Stay America motel on Jarvis Drive in Morgan Hill on Jan. 29, 2005.
Jury selection began Thursday and according to defense attorney Andrew Tursi, the selection will likely finish up early next week with trial possibly starting as early as Tuesday.
Tursi made a motion to sever ties with 21-year-old Gilroy resident Daniel Zuniga who is a suspected gang member and is charged with helping Aguilera in a separate incident on Oct. 23, 2004 when a man was shot three times in his car. A judge approved the motion and the cases were divided this week. Both Aguilera and Zuniga will undergo separate trials.
The Jan. 29 incident began in a room at the hotel about 4:45pm after a hotel staff member reported a large amount of blood found in one of the rooms.
Two stabbing victims surfaced shortly after – one at a San Jose area hospital, another at Saint Louise Regional Hospital. The Gilroy victim had given a false name, but was later identified by police as Aguilera. The San Jose victim was Bargar.
According to police, Aguilera fled from Saint Louise on foot before after detectives attempted to question him.
He jumped into a waiting vehicle outside the hospital, leading police on a vehicle pursuit across the east side of the city and a lengthy search of the Chestnut Street area until he surrendered about 1am.
The stabbing victim later told police he was at the hotel to purchase marijuana from Aguilera when the deal went sour and he was stabbed in the neck.
