San Martin
– After calling 10 witnesses, the prosecution rested its case
Tuesday in the murder trial of Anthony Frausto, who is accused of
killing 19-year-old Gilroy resident Luis Bautista in a gang
confrontation.
San Martin – After calling 10 witnesses, the prosecution rested its case Tuesday in the murder trial of Anthony Frausto, who is accused of killing 19-year-old Gilroy resident Luis Bautista in a gang confrontation.
The defense will present its case beginning today.
Frausto, 19, of Morgan Hill, has been held without bail in Santa Clara County Jail since his arrest Oct. 2, 2005 for the Sept. 30, 2005 shooting behind the Safeway grocery store and JoAnn’s Fabrics in Tennant Station shopping center.
An estimated six to eight men in their late teens or early 20s, were walking west behind the shopping center when a pickup truck pulled up from the east. About five men got out of the truck. As the groups approached, they were gesturing and shouting at each other, witnesses said. When the two gangs were about 10 feet apart, four shots rang out, and everyone except Bautista, who had been hit, scattered.
Morgan Hill Police Detective Mindy Zen testified Tuesday as an expert on gang symbols, as Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott tried to convince jurors Frausto deserves a gang enhancement to the homicide charge.
On Monday, jurors heard testimony from 17-year-old Mario Flores, who is incarcerated in Juvenile Hall for an unrelated crime. He identified himself as a Sureño gang member and said he was a part of the group that was with Bautista when he was shot.
Flores said he could not identify the shooter because it was dark and because the first group of rival gangsters was far away from a second group he was a part of.
He said he did have a knife in his pocket at the time, but said he did not pull it out until after he heard the gunshots.
