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Handshake a prelude to Visalia death
Prosecutor outlines case against three in teenager's slaying.
04/09/08 23:03:15
VISALIA -- Gang members used a handshake to distract a Visalia teenager before shooting him point-blank in the head as he played football with other neighborhood children, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday.Testimony began Wednesday afternoon in the murder trial of 17-year-olds Chawa See, Lavang See and Aitang See. All three teens are accused of the Oct. 1, 2006 slaying of 16-year-old Robert Trevino outside an apartment complex on the 300 block of Northeast 4th Street in central Visalia.Trevino died from a single gunshot wound to the head from a semiautomatic handgun.During his opening arguments, prosecutor Todd Zocchi said Chawa See was the shooter in a group of about five members of the Oriental Troop, a Visalia street gang made up of southeast Asians. The weapon was found under a bed in See's room after the crime.The fatal shot was fired after another gang member shook Trevino's hand to distract him. The confrontation occurred because Trevino was a member of a rival gang. The spot on the sidewalk where Trevino died had graffiti markings with the words "OT Gang" in blue paint -- the gang's color."A girl asked Chawa See, 'Why did you do it?'," Zocchi said. "He said, 'He deserved it, he was dissing the hood.' "Chawa See's attorney, Stephen Girardot, reserved his opening statement for later in the trial. But attorneys for the two other defendants said Chawa See and Billy Her, 19, were the main culprits in the crime.It was Her who shook Trevino's hand to district him, said Tara Howard, Lavang See's attorney."The people are standing there, they had no idea this was going to happen," said Howard, referring to the other group members.Aitang See's attorney, deputy public defender Justin Tuttle, said little will be said about his client's involvement during the trial. He said Her will testify for the prosecution later in the trial.Her pleaded guilty last month to voluntary manslaughter and a gang enhancement for his role in the shooting. The other defendant in the shooting, 17-year-old Aisang See, will be tried separately.Witnesses to the shooting said they saw a group of four to five Asian boys walking up the street wearing bandannas over their faces when Trevino was killed.Maribel Saucedo, who lives in the same apartment complex where Trevino lived, said she saw him playing football with neighborhood children when the group of boys walked up. She said someone told Trevino to go inside, but he didn't."He said, 'Why? I'm not doing anything. I'm just playing football,' " Saucedo said of Trevino's reply.Trevino's grandmother, Angela Trevino, testified she heard a shot and ran outside to find her grandson lying on the sidewalk."I touched his face, to see if he would move," she said. She grabbed a cell phone to call 911, but her grandson was "already gone."Zocchi said he will also present evidence of how Chawa See, Lavang See and Aitang See escaped Dec. 12 from a Probation Department van as they were about to enter the Tulare County courthouse for a hearing. Police later found the three hiding in the backyard of a nearby home.