Week 8: Santa Maria Ibarra Murder Trial
Defendant Anthony “AJ” Solis testified about what he saw inside the home and bedroom on West Donovan Road where the victim, Anthony Ibarra, was allegedly held against his will, beaten, tortured and killed in March of 2013.
“I want to leave”, Solis testified, “Why?”, he was asked by his defense attorney Addison Steele, “because I don’t want to get beat up too, I don’t want to be the next one that happens to”, Solis replied.
“Idon’t remember exactly, I was more focused on me getting out of there”, Solis testified Friday about what he saw inside the home on West Donovan Road in Santa Maria where Ibarra was allegedly killed over his unpaid drug debts or “taxes”.
“Is he wearing gloves?”, Solis was asked by Steele about one of the defendants inside the home, “I don’t know, like I said, I just wanted to try to find a way to get out, get out of the room.”
Solis testified he was confronted by some of the defendants at the home before Ibarra arrived about his own unpaid drug debts and then described what he saw inside the bedroom where Ibarra was killed.
“What did you see?”, Steele asked Solis, “Anthony (Ibarra) is bleeding, from his mouth and his nose, that’s what I seen, it was going down his mouth, going down his face”, Solis replied.
Solis said he was given Ibarra’s clothes and told to take them away leaving the bedroom not knowing Ibarra’s ultimate fate.
“What do you believe would happen to you if you did not take the clothes?”, Steele asked Solis, “I would be beaten up”, Solis said, “What kind of beating do you think you would take if you didn’t take the clothes?”, Steele asked, “the same thing Anthony got”, Solis replied.
Solis was asked about a machete believed to be one of the murder weapons which has never been found.
“Was anybody holding a machete?”, Steele asked, “no”, Solis said, “Way back in the purple room, do you ever see a machete?”, Steele asked, “no”, Solis said, “Throughout this whole thing, do you ever see a machete?”, Steele asked, “no”, Solis replied.
Solis acknowledged he was high on methamphetamine at the time of Ibarra’s alleged kidnapping and murder.
A key prosecution witness, former defendant Robert Sosa, who accepted a plea deal in exchange for his testimony, said earlier in the trial he saw Solis participate in the alleged torture of Ibarra in the bedroom and was with Solis when they left the house to dispose of Ibarra’s clothes and the machete.
Solis is expected to return to the witness stand when the trial resumes on Monday.
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One of the six defendants in Santa Maria’s ongoing U-Haul murder trial is testifying in his own defense.
Anthony “AJ” Solis testified he is not now and never has been a gang member and the only reason he’s involved in this case is because of his personal drug use and relationships he had with the other defendants.
“Do you know where I can find some photos of you throwing up gang signs?”, asked Solis’ defense attorney Addison Steele, “no”, Solis replied, “Well why not?”, Steele asked, “because I’m not a gang member, I don’t throw gang signs”, Solis said.
“Did you know that Anthony Ibarra was burning people?”, Steele asked Solis, “yes”, Solis replied, “how did you know that?”, Steele asked, “it was the word on the street”, Solis said.
Solis testified he bought drugs from Anthony Ibarra, the murder victim in this case, and knew Ibarra was a wanted man for owing money to his various drug connections.
“People were just talking about it”, Solis testified, ” I heard previously, that he had been “jumped” by somebody else because he owed money.”
Solis testified he warned another witness in the trial to stay away from Ibarra before he was killed.
“What exactly do you think you told her about hanging out with Anthony Ibarra?”, Steele asked Solis, “just be careful”, Solis replied.
“Why did you tell her she needed to be careful?”, Steele asked, “because if he gets jumped again and she’s around him she might get hurt too”, Solis said.
The prosecution maintains Solis and the five other defendants on trial conspired to kidnap, torture and murder Anthony Ibarra in March of 2013 over his unpaid drug debts or “taxes”.
Solis will return to the witness stand on Friday morning.
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The mother of the woman who testified earlier in the trial about driving the U-Haul truck with Anthony Ibarra’s body in the back from Nipomo to Orcutt was called to the witness stand.
The 402 hearing allowed the prosecution and the defense to hear testimony from a prospective witness without the presence of the jury.
The woman, who is in county jail custody, testified her daughter told her she received a phone call from a key prosecution witness who goes by the street name of Buddha in the aftermath of Ibarra’s murder in March of 2013.
“She said he called and said, in detail, how they killed AnthonyIbarra, that’s what she told me”, the woman testified.
The six men on trial are all charged with murder along with special allegations including kidnapping, torture and for the benefit of an illegal street gang in the killing of Anthony Ibarra which the prosecution says was over his unpaid drug debts or “taxes” to the defendants.
“She just said that he called and said, detail by detail, how they killed Anthony”, the 402 hearing witness testified, “Ok, so Buddha (prosecution witness) called and Buddha said detail by detail how they killed Anthony?”, asked prosecutor Ann Bramsen, “yea”, the witness replied, “are you sure she used the word they?”, Bramsen asked, “yea”, the woman said.
The woman is not expected to be called as a witness for the defense in front of the jury.
The two-month long trial is nearing an end with the possibility that at least two of six defendants make take the witness stand in their own defense.
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Santa Maria’s ongoing U-Haul murder trial is shedding light on the the sophisticated web of gang leadership and and gang enforcement on the Central Coast.
The defense called its own gang expert Tuesday to testify about the prison-run Mexican Mafia and its affiliated Surenos gang network and the alleged link to the six defendants on trial .
“There’s different kinds of gang experts”, the defense witness testified Tuesday morning, “there are gang experts that are in law enforcement and there’s gang experts that are non-law enforcement, I’m one of those individuals that’s a non-law enforcement gang expert.”
The defense witness and gang expert testified about how the prison-run Mexican Mafia and its affiliated Surenos gang operates.
“The Mexican Mafia is a unique group of individuals, very selective, the numbers you can hear range from 150 to 250, state or federal prisons”,the defense witness testified, “individuals who are, to put into perspective, members of Congress if you will.”
“There’s a process in which they can become Mexican Mafia members, these individuals are influential, theymay be incarcerated in California or anywhere else in the country”, the witness testified, “they may be very active in their role,meaning that they have access to, their secretaries have access to the tax collectors, maybe in control of certain areas in the community, some of them are drug users that are just getting high and may be not followingup too much on their agenda.”
“The word Surenos comes into play during incarceration, its basically the group within most of the Hispanic gangs fall under when they get incarcerated”, the defense witness testified, “Generally speaking, its the group of Hispanic gangs from southern California.”
The defense witness said the Surenos Gang controls Santa Maria’s two main street gangs.
“What I have learned is that you have individuals from other gangs that live in Santa Maria, but the root gangs of this community are Northwest and West Park”, the witness testified.
The prosecution maintains the six defendants are all members or associates of the Northwest gang that conspired to lure, kidnap, torture and kill the victim in this case, Anthony Ibarra, over his unpaid drug debts or “taxes” to the defendants.
“In my experience as a gang expert, the way I would classify an associate in this capacity, is somebody who is involved in the capacity as a gang member, who’s in a capacity working with them, the gang, to commit crimes to further the gang”, the witness testified, ” I would not classify a drug addict as an associate, they are there in the capacity to sustain their drug habit.”
Gang membership versus gang association is key to the trial because the six defendants are all charged with murder along with special circumstances including to benefit a street gang.
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Defense attorneys in Santa Maria’s U-Haul murder trial have gone on the offense after the prosecution has rest its case.
The first defense witness called to the stand Monday morning testified he shared a cell with one of the key prosecution witnesses, Robert Sosa, a gang member and former defendant who accepted a plea deal in exchange for his testimony at trial.
Sosa’s testimony identified all of the six defendants on trial and their roles in the alleged kidnapping, torture and murder of Anthony Ibarra in a Santa Maria home in March of 2013.
Ibarra’s body was found in the back of a rented U-Haul truck found parked in an Orcutt neighborhood, the prosecution says the motive for the crime was Ibarra’s unpaid drug debts or “taxes” to the defendants identified in court as gang members or gang associates.
The witness called Monday morning by defense attorney David Bixby testified Sosa told him in their county jail cell that he accepted the 15 year prison deal to avoid a possible life in prison without the possibility of parole sentence facing all six defendants on trial.
“His deal was he had to say certain things in order for him to receive that deal that he wanted, to be on the table, he’s have to say whatever the DA said”, the witness said, “He never mentioned anything about the fact that he had to tell the truth?”, Bixby asked the witness, “Nope. He also did mention that if he didn’t say those things at trial, that deal would be taken off the table”, the witness testified.
“He was terrified as far as what needed to be said”, the defense witness said, “but he was going to go ahead and go through with it, he told me it was for his life, you know, he said he’d rather take that deal than risk going to trial and potentially losing.”
Under cross-examination, prosecutor Ann Bramsen attacked the credibility of the defense witness by pointing out he had been convicted of kidnapping and was on his way to prison and was being held in protective custody at the county jail.
The judge denied all defense motions to dismiss the charges and special allegations against the six defendants based on insufficient evidence presented by the prosecution.
It included testimony from Robert Sosa and from two other key prosecution witnesses whom the defense called accomplices in their motions to dismiss.
“If the theory of the prosecution is felony murder, kidnap, and the elements that must be proven, I’m asking the court to make a finding that they do not exist at this point to sustain a return of a guilty verdict”, argued defense attorney Tom Allen on behalf of defendant Reyes Gonzales, “so as to the kidnap and murder, the facts are insufficient.”
Allen argued the three key prosecution witnesses lack credibility.
“What is it that is driving them?”, Allen asked in making his motion to dismiss, “they do not want to be here faced with murder charges and they are going to do anything, and they had opportunity to fabricate, and they agreed to the fabrication.”
“Thejury will decide the credibility”, the judge said in denying Allen’s motion.
“We have evidence that all of them (defendants) came out once Anthony Ibarra was there and mobbed him”, prosecutor Ann Bramsen said in arguing against the defense motions, “he (prosecution witness) was very clear that all of them did that.”
“This crime was committed in a group dynamic with the fear and intimidation of a number of people forcing him (Ibarra) down the hallway after he had been beaten and stabbed”, Bramsen said, “then holding him in that back room where its more dangerous while they surrounded him, he (prosecution witness) knows that the entire group took Anthony Ibarra from just inside that door, all the way to the back bedroom that had no outside door or access to get away, the kidnapping is ongoing at that point, the evidence is that the victim was tortured in that room for hours, and hours.”
“None of them are charged with personal infliction, or being the actual killer, they are not charged that way”, Bramsen said, “there no evidence that anyone of these gentlemen thought that Anthony Ibarra was released, that they let him go, that the kidnapping and torture were over, the kidnapping and torture are over until they all reach a place of safety.”
