Son of former Assembly speaker pleads not guilty

By Elliot Spagat, The Associated Press
Updated: 12/04/2008 06:20:48 PM PST




Esteban Nunez, son of former California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, is arraigned on murder charges in Superior Court in San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008. Nunez and three of his friends and are accused of stabbing to death a 22-year-old student and injuring three other men on the San Diego State University campus. (AP Photo/Mark Avery)SAN DIEGO - The teenage son of former California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez and three other men pleaded not guilty Thursday to murder in the stabbing death of a college student as prosecutors shied away from calling the attack the work of a criminal street gang, a characterization that carries stiffer punishments.
Court documents say 19-year-old Esteban Nuñez and his friends belong to a "close-knit group of friends who call themselves 'THC' aka 'The Hazard Crew,'" who flash hand signs and sport tattoos with symbols of hazardous materials.

"Basically, your honor, they want to be gang members," prosecutor Jill DiCarlo told San Diego Superior Court Judge David Szumowski, adding that she was not trying to prove they were.

Brad Patton, Esteban Nuñez's defense attorney, insisted his client was not a gang member.

"(The prosecutor) stands up and makes brazen claims about gang connections but can't plead that in her pleadings," he told reporters outside court.

Patton said Esteban Nunez acted in self-defense, but he did not elaborate, and said one defendant, Ryan Jett, was stabbed.

The judge set bail at $2 million for Esteban Nuñez, Rafael Garcia and Leshanor Thomas, all 19. He denied bail to Jett, 22, because he is on probation for possession of ammunition.

The four defendants stood silently in blue jail garb as their attorneys spoke on their behalf. Each is charged with one count of murder, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and a misdemeanor count of vandalism for allegedly slashing a trailer's tires before the attack. They face maximum sentences of life in prison if convicted of murder.
The prosecutor said Nuñez, Garcia and Jett went to the banks of the Sacramento River hours after the Oct. 4 stabbings to burn clothing with gasoline and toss knives into the water.



From left, Esteban Nunez, Ryan Jett, Rafael Garcia, and Leshanor Thomas, listen as they are arraigned for murder in Superior Court in San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008. Nunez, son of California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, and his three friends are accused of stabbing to death a 22-year-old student and injuring three other men on the San Diego State University campus.

Angry about getting kicked out of a fraternity party, they left Luis Santos, a 22-year-old Mesa College student, bleeding to death in the street, stabbed two others and punched another man in the eye so hard that he needed surgery, DiCarlo said.

The victims, who were attacked in front of San Diego State University's Peterson Gym, had just left a party at an apartment, not a fraternity, DiCarlo said.

"They ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time," she told the judge.

Fabian Nuñez, 41, his wife Maria and their daughter Teresa stood before a bank of television cameras as Patton made a brief statement outside court blasting prosecutors for making the case "a bit of spectacle." Fabian Nuñez declined to comment.

"They believe 100 percent in their son's innocence," Patton said.

Paul Pfingst, Garcia's attorney, told reporters his client "is not a murderer" and blasted authorities for waiting two months to file charges.

Police have said they were probing a possible "gang nexus" in the attack, but Paul Levikow, a spokesman for the San Diego County district attorney's office, said prosecutors will not make that allegation, which requires a higher burden of proof.

Shaun Martin, a University of San Diego law professor who is not involved in the case, said prosecutors would have to prove that the group committed other crimes, even if they weren't charged.

"The biggest barrier is you have to prove a pattern of committing crimes, and that's not what happened in this case based on what I've seen," he said.

Fabian Nuñez is the longest-serving speaker in California's

From left, Esteban Nunez, Ryan Jett, Rafael Garcia, and Leshanor Thomas, listen as they are arraigned for murder in Superior Court in San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008. Nunez, son of California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, and his three friends are accused of stabbing to death a 22-year-old student and injuring three other men on the San Diego State University campus. (AP Photo/Mark Avery)era of legislative term limits. The Los Angeles Democrat cultivated a close relationship with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that led to their agreement on a landmark law to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California.
He authored a bill last year that established a statewide office to combat gang and youth violence. The law proclaims that gang violence had reached "epic proportions" in California.

An arrest warrant affidavit offers witness accounts of the stabbings and their aftermath.

Prosecutors say Nuñez and his friends drove to San Diego to party. After getting kicked out of a party, they fueled their anger with a bottle of rum and two six-packs of beer at the apartment of Garcia's cousin, Briana Perez.

Perez quoted the men saying, "Let's go burn down their house" and, "Let's show them how we do it in Sac-Town." The documents don't specify which men made the statements, although they say Esteban Nuñez and Garcia did most of the talking.

The melee occurred after the group left the apartment, according to the affidavit.

Thomas later told investigators that one of the victims said, "I think I got stabbed," and that Esteban Nuñez said, "Yeah, I got one of them."

John Murray told investigators that he joined his friend Esteban Nuñez later that day at a Sacramento riverbank frequented by transients. Esteban Nuñez carried a plastic bag, and Jett had a cup filled with gasoline as they prepared to destroy evidence, according to the affidavit.

"They had a hat and a shirt they burned, and they had their knives in a bag," Murray is quoted as saying. "I walked back to my car and said, 'You guys do what you have to do.'"

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Associated Press Writer Juliet Williams in Sacramento contributed to this report.

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