| For Immediate Release Case # 08ZF0020 & 09CF2225
November 8, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
GANG MEMBER FACES TRIAL FOR MURDERING TWO RIVALS AND LEAVING THIRD IN A COMA IN
EXECUTION-STYLE GANG SHOOTING
*Five co-defendants have been convicted and sentenced in this case
SANTA ANA – A juvenile gang member charged as an adult faces trial tomorrow for murdering two rivals and leaving a third in a coma after an execution-style gang shooting. Prospero Guadarrama, 21, is charged with two felony counts of special circumstances murder for the benefit of a criminal street gang, one felony count of attempted murder, one felony count of street terrorism, and sentencing enhancements for criminal street gang activity and the vicarious discharge of a firearm as a gang member causing death and bodily injury. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole. Opening statements are expected to begin tomorrow morning, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011, in Department C-30, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. The time is to be determined.
Five co-defendants have been convicted and sentenced in this case (see below). The defendants are all members of a Hispanic Santa Ana criminal street gang.
On Dec. 17, 2007, Guadarrama is accused of riding into a rival gang neighborhood with co-defendants Juan Roldan, Norberto Hernandez, Oiram Ayala, and Angel Garcia. Co-defendant Marco Perez was the driver. Guadarrama is accused of participating in the following, for which his co-defendants have been convicted:
The defendants were armed with two firearms and drove through Santa Ana searching for rival gang members to murder. While in a rival gang neighborhood, the defendants noticed three rivals, 14-year-old Angel Secundino, 15-year-old Gabriel Perez, and 16-year-old Fernando Garcia.
The defendants stopped the car, got out, and confronted the victims. The defendants then murdered Secundino and Gabriel Perez by shooting them execution-style in the head. Victim Garcia was shot in the stomach and was left in a coma. He survived after undergoing seven surgeries. The defendants fled the scene.
Two days earlier, three of the co-defendants were involved in another gang-related shooting. On Dec. 15, 2006, Ayala, Hernandez, and Roldan walked into a rival gang neighborhood with a firearm in search of rival gang members. The defendants found a group of rivals and the two gangs began shooting at each other. Victim Gumaro Rojas, then 47 years old, was nearby selling corn on the cob from his street vendor cart and was caught in the crossfire. Rojas, an innocent civilian, was shot in the back. The bullet penetrated his spinal cord and the victim remains paralyzed from the waist down. The defendants fled the scene.
Co-Defendants
Roldan, 21, who was a juvenile at the time of the crime and prosecuted as an adult, was convicted by a jury Sept. 30, 2010, of two felony counts of special circumstances murder for committing multiple murders for the benefit of a criminal street gang, one felony count of attempted murder, two felony counts of street terrorism, one felony count of assault with a firearm, and sentencing enhancements for criminal street gang activity and the vicarious discharge of a firearm as a gang member causing death and bodily injury. He was sentenced Feb. 18, 2011, to life in state prison without the possibility of parole.
Hernandez, 26, was found guilty by a jury March 26, 2009, of the same charges as Roldan. He was sentenced June 5, 2009, to two life sentences in state prison without the possibility of parole plus an additional 93 years to life.
Ayala, 22, who was a juvenile at the time of the crime and prosecuted as an adult, was found guilty by a jury Sept. 30, 2010, of the same charges as Roldan and was sentenced Oct. 22, 2010, to life in state prison without the possibility of parole.
Perez, 18, was found guilty by a jury June 25, 2009, of two felony counts of special circumstances murder for the benefit of a criminal street gang, one felony count of attempted murder, one felony count of street terrorism, and sentencing enhancements for criminal street gang activity and the vicarious discharge of a firearm as a gang member causing death and bodily injury. He was sentenced Oct. 23, 2009, to 50 years to life in state prison.
Garcia, 24, was convicted by a jury Jan. 26, 2009, of two felony counts of special circumstances murder for committing multiple murders for the benefit of a criminal street gang, one felony count of attempted murder, one felony count of street terrorism, and sentencing enhancements for criminal street gang activity and the vicarious discharge of a firearm as a gang member causing death and bodily injury. He was sentenced May 29, 2009, to two life sentences in state prison without the possibility of parole plus an additional 50 years to life.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Colleen Crommett of the Gang Unit is prosecuting this case.
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