Man shot in arm and leg can’t identify Anthony Aguilera as the
one who shot him
San Martin – The man allegedly shot in the arm and leg by attempted murder suspect Anthony Aguilera stood up from his seat on the witness stand, looked the defendant in the face, and said that he looked nothing like the person who shot him in the parking lot of a Gilroy liquor store nearly two years ago.
Dustin Baldwin, 24, testified in the fifth day of trial at Santa Clara County Court that he was shot by a passenger of a car that flagged him down on Church Street Oct. 23, 2004. Upon pulling into a parking lot he watched as the front seat passenger – allegedly Aguilera – reached into his waistband to grab for what he believed was a gun.
“That’s why I didn’t stop,” Baldwin told Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott. Baldwin, who is custody on fraud charges, was wearing an orange Santa Clara County Department of Corrections jersey.
Moments later a series of gunshots rang out, with two bullets striking his left arm and left knee, Baldwin said.
“Once I (saw) the gun and heard gunshots, that’s when I got out as fast as I could,” he said.
He could not recall what the shooter looked like, and could not remember making statements to police in the days after the incident. In previous testimony, the driver of the suspect’s car, Mona Lisa Smythe, identified Anthony Aguilera as her front seat passenger.
Aguilera, 22, is a suspected Norteño gang member charged with two separate attempted murder counts, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, shooting into an inhabited vehicle and evading arrest.
Scott insinuated that Baldwin may be afraid to identify his shooter in court out of fear of being called “a snitch.” Prisoners who testify in court may be labeled a snitch by other inmates. Once labeled as wearing “a snitch jacket,” a prisoner is vulnerable to physical attacks by other inmates, police said.
Baldwin admitted he was a Norteño gang associate in the past, but denied he was ever a gang member.
When asked by defense attorney Andy Tursi, “Does Mr. Aguilera resemble at all the person who shot you?” Baldwin said no.
He denied knowing Aguilera before the shooting and said there was nothing familiar about him.
But Gilroy Police Department Anti-Crime Team Investigator Joseph Deras didn’t buy his testimony.
He said that Baldwin appeared “guarded” during his testimony Thursday.
“I think he had more information that he was willing to give,” Deras testified. “I can’t think of a time (since he started working with ACT) when someone has been cooperative when they’ve been a victim of a gang crime.”
The defense will begin its case as the trial continues Monday.
