Prosecutor: Gang Member's Murderous Revenge
April 30, 2001
(UPN News 13) A gang member seeking revenge for being arrested in front of his pregnant girlfriend fired the bullets that killed a Los Angeles police officer nearly three years ago, a prosecutor told a jury today. But an attorney for 23-year-old Catarino Gonzalez Jr. said the Los Angeles Police Department was desperate to find a suspect for the Aug. 9, 1998, slaying of one of its own and falsely accused his client.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Gonzalez, who is charged with the special-circumstances murder of Officer Filbert Cuesta and the attempted murder of his partner. The 26-year-old lawman was shot in the back of the head as he and Officer Richard Galdabon sat in a patrol car outside a crowded wedding reception in the Crenshaw District.

Cuesta and Galdabon were keeping watching the party in the 5300 block of Carlin Street and waiting for backup officers to arrive because they believed gang members were inside. Cuesta was an anti-gang officer and four-year member of the force. The father of two girls had been back at work for three days since coming off a month of paternity leave.

Deputy District Attorney Darren Levine told jurors that Gonzalez was ``hardened'' by the 120 days he served in jail in 1998 for possessing rock cocaine and felt ``disrespected'' when he was arrested and cited by another LAPD team for drinking in public.