Alleged gang member is convicted of murder in 49th Street Massacre
Jack Leonard
05/18/2010
An alleged gang member was convicted Monday of murdering three people, including a 10-year-old boy, on a quiet South L.A. street in an attack that became known as the 49th Street Massacre.
Charles Ray Smith, 41, repeatedly shook his head as the verdicts were read in a packed downtown L.A. courtroom. In the audience behind him, the mother of the 10-year-old victim wept quietly.
David Marcial had been riding his bicycle with his 12-year-old brother outside their South L.A. home on a warm June afternoon in 2006 when two gunmen opened fire. Among those killed in the attack were David, his uncle, Larry Marcial, 22, and a neighbor of the Marcial family, Luis Cervantes, 17. David’s brother was shot but survived.
The slayings shocked the city and were part of a series of high-profile interracial gang crimes that stoked fears of a possible race war. The gunmen were described as black; the victims were Latino. Police said the dead were not connected to gangs but that they suspected the attackers were.
But prosecutors argued during the trial that race had little to do with the killings. They said the gunmen, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, mistook the victims as rival gang members in a bloody feud between two local gangs.
Jurors deadlocked in a trial on the charges last year. This time, a new jury deliberated about two weeks before finding Smith guilty of murder and attempted murder in the attack.
The panel also found him guilty of fatally shooting a construction worker three months before the 49th Street killings. The jury now must decide whether Smith should receive the death penalty.
Jurors deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convicting Ryan T. Moore, 36, who prosecutors said was the second gunman in the 49th Street shooting. Superior Court Judge David S. Wesley declared a mistrial in Moore’s case.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Bobby Grace said his office had yet to decide whether to seek a third trial of Moore.
The prosecution’s case against both defendants revolved around a key witness, Alicia Merceron, who admitted driving the car in the two killings. She identified Smith as a gunman in both shootings and testified that Moore was the second shooter in the 49th Street killings.
Defense attorneys accused Merceron, 26, of lying to save herself from the death penalty or a lengthy prison term. In exchange for her testimony, prosecutors allowed her to plead guilty to manslaughter, and she is expected to be sentenced to seven years in prison.
Tags: 10 year old, 49th Street Massacre, Charles Ray Smith, larry, latino, Marcial
Posted by RhindiT
on May 19 2010. Filed under News.
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And these are the people who deserve understanding. Sure they are. When you hear about people like this, you almost want the foreigners to take over, at least in those hoods. Keep shaking your head, pimp no mo. This lazy whiner should get injected.
I hope my nigga rocc got off…fucc mexicans..10 to 2 shit sounds like a free man to me
FUCK U TINTOS LIKE I SAID YALL GOT IT COMING ESE… AND YEAH A FREE MAN LIKE THE REST OF U NIGGERS TELLING ON EACHOTHER… THAZ ALL YALL DO INSIDE, RAT EACHOTHER OUT, AND FUCK EACHOTHER, FUCKIN FAGGOT AS PORCH MONKEYS STR8 BOOTY BUSTING CRAB ON SLOB, AND SLOB ON CRAB… FUCK NIGGERS
IT IS AMAZING HOW TWO MEN CAN BE TRIED ON THE WORD OF A COLDHEARTED KILLER! MS. MERCERON WILL DO AND HAS DONE WHATEVER TO KEEP HER ASS OUT OF PRISON! SHE IS THE ONLY ONE THE PROSECUTERS KNOWS WAS THERE! EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY PROVES THAT! AS HARD AS THEY HAVE TRIED, RYAN OR CHARLES CANNOT BE PROVEN BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT TO HAVE MURDERED THESE PEOPLE! THERE WILL COME A DAY WHEN THE PROSECUTION WILL SEE MS. MERCERON AGAIN! SHE WILL BE RELEASED,HOOK UP WITH THE REAL KILLERS, AND RESUME HER LIFE OF CRIME! I JUST WONDER WILL THEY BE SO FORGIVING THE NEXT TIME! I SEND MY CONDOLENCES TO THE MARCIAL AND CERVANTES FAMILIES BUT I AM POSITIVE THAT YOU HAVE THE WRONG MEN! MS. MERCERON GETS 7 YEARS FOR MURDERING YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS AND ATTEMPTING TO KILL ANOTHER ONE, IS THAT JUSTICE? THINK ABOUT THIS, 1 LIE = (7 YEARS – A LIFE SENTENCE) YOU DO THE MATH, WOULDN’T YOU LIE TOO?
THANK GOD THE JURORS HAD ENOUGH INTELLIGENCE TO FIND ‘KRICK” GUILTY. TOO BAD “ROCK” HAS TO SIT THROUGH ANOTHER TRIAL; JUST PROLONGING THE INEVITABLE. SICK THAT MERCERON GETS ONLY SEVEN YEARS FOR DRIVING THE GETAWAY CAR.
ALL YOU GANG MEMBERS NEED TO PUT AWAY THE GUNS, GO BACK TO SCHOOL AND GET A JOB. DON’T PASS ON YOUR WILD WEST WAYS TO THE NEXT GENERATION.
FUKK U NI66ER, YOU KNOW TH3M SLOBZ DID IT, BUT IS ALL GOOD YALL GOT A FEW COMING TOO…. KIDS N ALL BITCH
mrs ryan moore my ass. dont even try it. trust hes coming with me once freed. so dream on.
dont matter what any nigger say their losing to the raza everday anyways. sooner or late all southside is going to ride on all crabs and slobs citywide thats why the blacks are scared to unite cause they know what would happen! game over! go ahead and unite hahaha you wouldnt want it trust that!
Fuck you, and go and dry your back you pussy!!! Bitches like you talk shit when you are with your “ESE’s” but probably can’t bust a grape !!! You don’t want it home boy, because a real brother will bust you in your shit, and won’t think nothing of it !!! And I wish it was me !!!! You bean eating pussy !!! Oh, and when that pay back come to my people, be a real man, and step to them, don’t pull up in a car, step up face to face, and then we will see what would happen !!! I don’t have a problem with Mexicans, I’m from the east coast, but the more I hear about them and that punk shit they do, it’s getting hard to not to change my opinion about them !!! But I do know that there are some , respectful, hard working, caring one’s out there, but they probably get threatened by the same little homo’s that suppose to be proud to be Mexican !!!
THANK GOD THE JURORS HAD ENOUGH INTELLIGENCE TO FIND ‘KRICK” GUILTY. TOO BAD “ROCK” HAS TO SIT THROUGH ANOTHER TRIAL; JUST PROLONGING THE INEVITABLE. SICK THAT MERCERON GETS ONLY SEVEN YEARS FOR DRIVING THE GETAWAY CAR.
ALL YOU GANG MEMBERS, HISPANIC AND BLACK NEED TO PUT AWAY THE GUNS, GO BACK TO SCHOOL AND GET A JOB. DON’T PASS ON YOUR WILD WEST WAYS TO THE NEXT GENERATION.