Thread: Trial begins in slaying of Oceanside, CA anti-gang activist

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/03 ... 195805.txt

Trial begins in slaying of Oceanside anti-gang activist
By: TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer

VISTA ---- As he lay dying on the curb, Joe Delgado told a policeman what little he could about the person who shot him.

The shooter was one in a group of neighborhood kids that Delgado had just confronted after catching them smashing the windows of his grandson's car, Delgado told the first policeman to arrive at the scene.

The fatally wounded man didn't know the kids by name. But Sgt. Aaron Doyle of the Oceanside Police Department told a jury Monday that as he knelt down next to the dying Delgado, the man told him there were four or five kids. One had a flashlight. One was short and stocky.

Apparently, one had a shotgun.

Delgado, 66 years old and a neighborhood activist, was hit in the abdomen by a shotgun blast that November evening in 2003, prosecutor Tom Manning told jurors Monday.

Antonio Garcia of Oceanside, the alleged gunman and a documented gang member, has pleaded not guilty to Delgado's slaying. The 19-year-old faces two life sentences if he is convicted of all the allegations, including murdering Delgado, using a gun to do it and killing Delgado for the benefit of a street gang.

Opening statements and witness testimony in Garcia's trial got under way Monday.

Defense attorney Herb Weston used his opening statement to tell the jury the shooter was not Garcia, and suggested the killer could have been another documented gang member ---- Joel Dominguez, to whom prosecutors have given immunity and witness protection in exchange for testifying against Garcia.

Dominguez told police he had been standing next to Garcia when Garcia gunned down Delgado, and that he and Garcia had broken the windows of the car parked in front of the Delgado home, the prosecutor said.

Delgado's slaying came after Garcia, Dominguez and a few others were walking through their gang's home turf ---- Oceanside's Crown Heights neighborhood ---- and came upon a car parked in front of Delgado's home, Manning told the jury.

They knew the car, Manning said. The person they'd seen driving it around ---- Delgado's grandson, Jacob Diaz ---- was buddies with members of a rival gang, he said.

Diaz and Garcia had bad blood and prior confrontations, Manning told the jury, so the group broke the windows of the car.

Manning said Dominguez will testify that Delgado came outside to confront the group, then picked up a tree branch and told them he was going to call the police.

Delgado was "not the kind of guy who would be intimidated, not the kind of guy who would back down," Manning told the jury.

Manning said Dominguez will testify that Garcia told him he was "tired of this fool," and was going to shoot Delgado, adding that it was "personal."

Manning contends that Garcia then turned and shot Delgado with a 12-gauge shotgun.

"He went down in the street and was left to die," Manning said.

In the aftermath of the shooting, police said that paramedics treated Delgado at the scene before he was flown to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, where he died later that evening.

Among his survivors is Katie Delgado, his wife of 44 years. She testified Monday that she was in bed when she heard the shotgun blast but didn't get up right away because she thought it was backfire from a car.

About six weeks passed between Delgado's slaying and Garcia's arrest.

Defense attorney Weston told the jury that Oceanside police were under "political pressure" to find Delgado's killer, and that Garcia's name came up in the investigation because of the bad blood between Diaz and Garcia.

Weston said tape recordings of Dominguez's interviews with police will show that Dominguez implicated Garcia because police led him to do so.

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-3517 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/03 ... 195805.txt

Trial begins in slaying of Oceanside anti-gang activist
By: TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer

VISTA ---- As he lay dying on the curb, Joe Delgado told a policeman what little he could about the person who shot him.

The shooter was one in a group of neighborhood kids that Delgado had just confronted after catching them smashing the windows of his grandson's car, Delgado told the first policeman to arrive at the scene.

The fatally wounded man didn't know the kids by name. But Sgt. Aaron Doyle of the Oceanside Police Department told a jury Monday that as he knelt down next to the dying Delgado, the man told him there were four or five kids. One had a flashlight. One was short and stocky.

Apparently, one had a shotgun.

Delgado, 66 years old and a neighborhood activist, was hit in the abdomen by a shotgun blast that November evening in 2003, prosecutor Tom Manning told jurors Monday.

Antonio Garcia of Oceanside, the alleged gunman and a documented gang member, has pleaded not guilty to Delgado's slaying. The 19-year-old faces two life sentences if he is convicted of all the allegations, including murdering Delgado, using a gun to do it and killing Delgado for the benefit of a street gang.

Opening statements and witness testimony in Garcia's trial got under way Monday.

Defense attorney Herb Weston used his opening statement to tell the jury the shooter was not Garcia, and suggested the killer could have been another documented gang member ---- Joel Dominguez, to whom prosecutors have given immunity and witness protection in exchange for testifying against Garcia.

Dominguez told police he had been standing next to Garcia when Garcia gunned down Delgado, and that he and Garcia had broken the windows of the car parked in front of the Delgado home, the prosecutor said.

Delgado's slaying came after Garcia, Dominguez and a few others were walking through their gang's home turf ---- Oceanside's Crown Heights neighborhood ---- and came upon a car parked in front of Delgado's home, Manning told the jury.

They knew the car, Manning said. The person they'd seen driving it around ---- Delgado's grandson, Jacob Diaz ---- was buddies with members of a rival gang, he said.

Diaz and Garcia had bad blood and prior confrontations, Manning told the jury, so the group broke the windows of the car.

Manning said Dominguez will testify that Delgado came outside to confront the group, then picked up a tree branch and told them he was going to call the police.

Delgado was "not the kind of guy who would be intimidated, not the kind of guy who would back down," Manning told the jury.

Manning said Dominguez will testify that Garcia told him he was "tired of this fool," and was going to shoot Delgado, adding that it was "personal."

Manning contends that Garcia then turned and shot Delgado with a 12-gauge shotgun.

"He went down in the street and was left to die," Manning said.

In the aftermath of the shooting, police said that paramedics treated Delgado at the scene before he was flown to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, where he died later that evening.

Among his survivors is Katie Delgado, his wife of 44 years. She testified Monday that she was in bed when she heard the shotgun blast but didn't get up right away because she thought it was backfire from a car.

About six weeks passed between Delgado's slaying and Garcia's arrest.

Defense attorney Weston told the jury that Oceanside police were under "political pressure" to find Delgado's killer, and that Garcia's name came up in the investigation because of the bad blood between Diaz and Garcia.

Weston said tape recordings of Dominguez's interviews with police will show that Dominguez implicated Garcia because police led him to do so.

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-3517 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.