Opening statements in murder trial against 204th Street gang members
By Alex A. Alonso
STREETGANGS.COM STAFF WRITER
August 20, 2010 | 12:56 p.m.
Johanthan Fajardo
Fajardo is also charged in the murder of Christopher Ash, an associate of 204th Street, who Fajardo and six others are accused of murdering on December 28, 2006, according to prosecutors. Daniel Aguilar, who was among that group, is also on trial with Fajardo for Ash’s murder. Fajardo is facing the death penalty.
Prosecution’s Opening Statements
In opening statements last week, Deputy District Attorney Gretchen Ford, told the jury that Fajardo and Aguilar are both members of the 204th Street gang. Ford characterized this gang as having a racist agenda against blacks and that the focal point for this racial conflict occurred at the Del Amo Market at 20340 Harvard Blvd. She told the jury that prior to Green being killed, Fajardo and others approached a black man at the market who defended himself with a gun to the surprise of the group. Later that day, Fajardo, armed with a .44 caliber revolver, shot at group of seven people, hitting three and killing Green.
With no leads, police began to serve warrants against 204th Street members including the Ash residence where Aguilar and Ash were arrested. Upon searching the residence, police found ammunition and a replica grenade that caused the bomb squad to be called out. They were questioned about the murder of Green, and released. According to the prosecution, they did not provide any information about the murder, but because they were released, rumors that Aguilar and Ash were snitches began to circulate amongst the 204th Street gang. Plans to kill both Ash and Aguilar were made.
Although, it appeared that Aguilar was one of the intended victims in this plot, the prosecution has charged him in the murder of Ash, because he and another member, Gonzales had picked Ash up to bring him the Silva’s house where he was to be murdered. Ford told the jury that Fajardo drove the van with Ash’s body and dumped it on Grace Avenue in the city of Carson.
Defense’s Opening Statements
Defense attorney Thomas White told the jury that when Green was shot, the shooter was targeting Anthony Buckner, a man in the group when Green was inadvertently struck. White also told the jury that Aguilar and others were not privy to the plan to kill Ash and that the perception was that senior members of 204th just wanted to “talk to him” and that the “big homie,” Juan Carlos “Racoon” Pimentel, told Aguilar and Ruben “Koots” Gonzales to bring Ash to Turtle’s garage for a beating.
White explained to the jury that when Ash first arrived to the garage, he was struck in the head with a shot gun and that if the intention of the entire group was to murder him, they would have began killing him immediately. White stated that only two people knew of the killing; Pimentel and Covarrubias, and they were the only ones with the knives that caused Ash’s death. The rest of the group, according to the defense, believed that the assault was going to be a typical beat down.
The van that was used to dump Ash’s body belonged to Adela Rubalcaba, a woman dating Pimentel, and Thomas told the jury that only his finger prints are found on the van. Aguilar and Fajardo’s prints were not found on the van.
Defense attorney for Aguilar, Antonio Bestard, also agreed with White and stated that his client was a minor participant in the murder of Ash, who was a close friend, and did not know that the murder was going to occur. Bestard also told the jury that according to the State’s own witness, Jose “Chano” Covarrubias, Aguilar and Fajardo were not aware of the plot to kill Ash, and were not part of the initial plan. Covarrubias, a 204th Street member was the second person who stabbed and killed Ash according to his own confession, but he has decided to testify for the prosecution in exchange for a reduced sentence. Bestard plans to expose contradictions in statements that he made to the police and testified to during the preliminary hearing.
The trial is expected to conclude next Tuesday and be turned over to the jury for deliberations to begin.
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Alex Alonso is an author, film maker and founder of Streetgangs.com. He is also a contributing author in the 2010 book entitled “Black Los Angeles: American Dreams Racial Realities” (New York University Press). He can be reached via email, toll free at 800-249-1324 or on Twitter.
I disagree that this person should get the death penalty.
Of course he deserves the death penalty, he’s Mexican.
f YOU chick MADE MOTHER fERS BLAST YOU chickES ALL DAY MAY YOUR BLOOD RUN DOWN THE HOOD ALL DAY HA
f your race sanjaya chick
Why would you k a innocent girl black, white or Mexican!!! That is some real .P ish!!! Don’t give him the death penalty, just put him in a room with all of her male relatives!!!!
I dont like this racist ass mexican I hope somebody k this bastard
In The Trenches,
Believe it or not, but the guy’s father is a black Belizean.
Gritty, I believe you. I remember reading a L.A. Times article after all of this occurred. Fajardo’s mom (who is, of course, Mexican) mentioned that his dad has black blood and was from Belize.
However, I don’t know if his dad is black or is part black (I think Belize has a population that includes both blacks and racially mixed people, like a lot of Latin American countries, so his dad could have had black blood mixed with Indian and/or white Spanish blood). Nevertheless, Fajardo has some amount of black blood.
Ray,
You’re right, the Times article did say that his father was part black, not “black” per se. My bad.
MAN f THAT LAME ASS HOOD! SHOE 0 WHORES AINT NADA ESE! THE ONLY CLAIM TO FAME THEY HAVE IS TAKING OUT A fIN NEGRO GIRL AND GETTING BOOTED FROM T X FLATS. AINT ish BUT SOME PAISA LEVAS HOMIE! THIS TRUE HXA STILO HOMEZ DE WEST SIDE WILMAS. ANAHEIM AND WILMINGTON. OH YEA f SIN PITOS AKA ish PEDRO N HUB CAPS AKA HARBOR ishTY! BIG BAD WILMINGTON13 WEST!
f WEAKSWk HC13 be running circles around you LEVAS funny ish learn how to gangbang before talking ish
f you lames WeakSideWk.. HC 13 be running circles around you chickes!!! Learn how to gangbang before talking ish and txfartgs handle your SNITCHES before running your fing mouth
SHUT THE f UP ,UR HOMIES GOT SMASHED BY ishY GASHO!!!!WE BOOTED TXF FRM OUR BARRIO…UR HOMIES WERE BUTT BUDliveS WIT ESTORRANCE BACK IN THE DAY, TRYIN 2 COME DOWN AND BANG 2GETHER LOL CHACHAS!!!!!CUATRERO GANG!!!!!HXA
204th street gang is a .P gang. Its as simple as that. Ooooh wow a gang that has a reputation for k-ingg innocent black americans with no gang ties. Whomp whomp whomp. Maybe if they had so balls they could earn a reputation like the Florenica 13s or 18s or ms’s but these dudes are a joke. They’re really arent even a gang…these fools are a possie. The average gang would demolish this small ass clique whether it be blood, crip, rival sureno, Latin king, tagger crew, Norteno, bulldog, 18…it doesn’t matter. I say let the fer go free. What good is he in prison..eme probably just gonna wind up k-ing’ his ass anyways.
f YOU PUNK chick
If were so weak then why hasn’t anybody been able to take our Barrio.. so f you (themostknownunknown) fen hating ass little chick grow some ball and come to my Barrio and try to remove us your self your just in a long line of cowards that hate on us but don’t have the ball to come down my Barrio
THATS RIGHT
204ST LET THEM Ni66ahS FRM HARBOR ishTY HAVE IT ESE!!!!LOL THATS WHY THEY MOVED OUT…
I dont like WAFFLEZ CUHZ WESTSIDE N H00D GANG 4RM THA 100S 2 THA 60Z FRY CUHZ N THA REST OF THEM TACO BORDER HOPPERS. BY 2012 EVEYRY STATE GON ASK A TACO 4 A GREEN CARD YAH BETTER NOT WORRY BOUT UZ N WORRY BOUT THEM WHITE BOYZ THEY THA 1Z THAS GON GET YAH BEAN AZZEZ
Your a chick Loc Gambino… And f your race to
i grew up in the TXFLATS HXA in the early 70s,when the projects was still up.where 204 is now use 2 belong 2 la rana,until FLATS move them out.most of these fools older bro r fr FLATS.but when FLATS got the green light 204 like chavalas that they r, forgot the hand that made hood n the mid 80s.fr my understanding they were a bunch of rejects,lames,n cubans.so if u vatos r glorified over this k-ingg,u got something else coming.
oh really u grew up in txf?? thats why u lefy uh? dumb f, 204STREET WAS NEVERRRRRRR LA RANA OR TXF!!!!them lil Ni66ahs were tryin 2 strat a gang in my barrio…didnt happen, and has 4 txf ,they fed thiers off wit us thats why we 204ST. kick them the f out of our barrio u smart ass!!!!we had problems wit them idiots waaaaaay be4 they had the green lite, which they claimed 2 be frm 204 wen they hit the county,so get ur story str8 wanna be….lol REAL 204STREETER!!!!!
f The chick ! “SANJAYA” chick if you got sumthing over mexicans We can fix it fENG ASIAN OR ASLISM MOTHER fER.!!!!!
-I THINK THEY SHOULD LET HIM GO, HIS A REALL GANGTER!
-f YOU chick!!
Hay Dooshbag, get some spelling sks. “REALL GANGTER”
f Ni66ahS ESE
All gang members should be given the death penalty,bunch of gutless motherfers.MEXICANS SUCK
f YOUR fEN RACE MOTHER fER…MEXICAN POWER
i wish i can get all them racist wets and burn them a life !! if thy are a true gangsters how come thy thy dont look for thE real bloods/crips gang bangers to shoot em up ?? i know y THY wont cz thy scared 2 look for THEM Ni66ahs haha,,,85% of them wetbaks are .P’s thy weak and DONT KNOW HOW TO FIGHT LOL,,,,STOP BEAING A .P AND GO AFTER THE REAL GANGSTERS chickES ,,,,OH YEAH AND THE FUNNY THING WHEN THY GO TO JAIL THY GET fED BY THER OWN O’GS THAT ASKED THEM TO DO THE DIRTY wORK lmaO,,,BE YO OWN MAN LIL GANGSTERS WANNA BE wetS
LOL @ all the so called ‘gang members’ posting in this article.
You know what? f all Sewer Rats okay?
It’s all about the Maravilla Projects.
ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS f EVERY 1 BECAUSE WILMAS EAST SIDE LST GANG IS THE HEART OF THE HARBOR. f ALL THESE LAME ASS LEVAS FROM DEL AMO TO 227TH AND UP THE ishTY CITY. SHOUT OUT TO MY CLIQUE IN TORRANCE KFO STAY UP AND KEEP DISRESPECTING ALL MARANAS. MEXICANO’S POR VIDA f THE WORLD… SUR 13
f mantequillasK and eswK HC13 be running circles around LEVAS
blank LAME ASS CEASE FROM THE CHEESE AND ___ ASS KFCS blankIN fartGETS U AINT MEXICAN blankIN WHITEWASHED ASS TINTO LOVER
Langdon Street isn’t in Harbor City you illiterate smart guy. It’s in North Hills.
f Harbor Area, it’s all about the 818 you chick.
All MEXICANS should get the death penalty…dirty taco SPICS
204th st gang is a .P gang…its that simple. they don’t even get respect from their own fellow surenos. Lmao. If they really hate blacks like they say they do then why don’t they f wit a real hood? They’ll get mopped up like the lil chickes they are. I consider them a hollywood gang. U know they hollywood gangs that terrorize the innocent in the movies. Its cool to shoot at a enemy until your enemy shoots back. When indeed the enemy shoots back and k bout 4 or 5 members of 204th st, they’ll fold or go runnin 2 tflats for help. I dont like playin tit for tat let play that guerilla warefare. If I used war tactics against a gang like this I would be on AMERICAS MOST WANTED. Lol
A puppy dog is a mexican yall mufas look like george of the jungle, Ni66ahs is gorillas, gorillas k puppy dogs and squash roaches ya dumb chick.
FCK mayans .P ASS chickES DERE ONLY GUD AT TALKN SHT BUT NVR PUT WORK LIKE DA RAZA WE KEEP IT REAL AND WE’LL ALWAYS DO FCK U GET OF THIS PAGE IF U A FAKE….ALRATOS PURO CFL….
this aint the late 80’s.muthaF#@Kas know the rules nowdays.you leave yo spot to put in work and bring a gun-u doin long time if u get caught.pretty funny that his momma likes black d#$k.maybe he’ll find out he likes black d#$k when he gets to soledad or corcoran!
f all this racist, cyber-banging bull ish!! This person DOES NOT. deserve the death penalty it is unfortunate of the incident but smart ass gangs in general is what drives many young Hispanics, and blacks blues purples whatever you wann call it but at the end your so called “hood” or “homies ” aren’t and ain’t going to be there for you either so f all gangs the media an d this corrupt ass system they don’t want to hear the truth but prosecute all minorities! The media is all gossip supposedly 204 “terrorized” blacks what about the girl shouldn’t she have been at school when the shooting happened? Instead of the streets w a crowd that was smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol? What about all the harassing towards Latinos? ……
f all you ish talkers suck on this mexican d#$k
f the cops