Accused's DNA found on knife

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A knife discovered in a garbage can on State Street after a March 14 gang melee was found to have the 15-year-old victim’s blood on the knife’s blade and the DNA of the 14-year-old charged with his murder on the handle, according to results released yesterday during a court hearing.
The test results were unveiled during day five of the preliminary hearing for Ricardo “Ricky” Juarez, 14, who has been charged with murdering Luis Angel Linares, 15. Juarez has pleaded innocent to the charge.


“The instrument we believe to be the stabbing instrument has the victim’s blood [on the blade] and the defendant’s DNA on the handle,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Hilary Dozer, the prosecutor in the case. “That’s pretty much all I care about. This is a preliminary hearing.”
Although the DNA results were released, they were not yet officially admitted into evidence.
Juarez’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Karen Atkins, said the DNA evidence is part of the picture, but it’s not the whole picture.
“There is more important DNA which we’re going to try and introduce,” Atkins said. “That [the DNA released yesterday] is not the only DNA.”
Atkins and her co-counsel Jennifer Archer have peppered a myriad questions at each of the several civilian and police witnesses that the prosecution has called so far, hoping to bring to light their belief that Juarez didn’t deliver the fatal stab wound.
“This is a very painstaking process of sifting through small details,” Atkins said. “Hopefully you’ll see the point that my client was not the person who inflicted the fatal wound.”
During the past week of testimony, one witness said he saw Juarez stab Linares, while Santa Barbara Police Detective Gary Siegel said Juarez admitted during an interview after the stabbing that he wielded a knife during the gang fight.
But regardless of that testimony, other witnesses have said there were two knives that day on State Street, one of which may have been used by a juvenile referred to in court as Ricardo R. and who is often referred to by his moniker, “Stomper.”
During Siegel’s testimony last Tuesday, he said he took DNA samples from Ricardo R. as well as Juarez on May 22. He also said authorities returned to the area surrounding Saks Fifth Avenue the day after the stabbing to search for an additional knife.
When asked about Ricardo R. and the possibility of another knife, Dozer said, “There’s no other weapon that we’ve discovered.”
The possibility of an additional knife was reinforced yesterday by a witness named Mario A., who told the court that he saw two knives when he met a group of about 30 eastsiders in Ortega Park before the fight.
Mario A. refused to identify anyone he was with on the day of the fight or anyone in photographs taken after the fight, which occurred at the intersection of State and Carrillo Streets.
Prompted by questions from Dozer, Mario A. said he would not reveal any names because of threats he received last week.
Dozer said the threats were made to Mario A’s cousin, who then informed his mother of the threats. Dozer said he was made aware of the threats moments before the boy took the stand.
Mario A. said he gathered with a small group of about seven people after attending school on the day of the stabbing, then joined the group of 30 at Ortega Park. The group then walked up State Street towards Saks Fifth Avenue and eventually came upon a group of westsiders on the west side of the street.
Mario A. said the two groups began yelling eastside and westside at one another before the fight began. He said the group of eastsiders he was with that day are known as the Eastside Traviesos.
Though Mario A. said he saw bottles thrown back and forth between the two rival gangs, he said he didn’t see Linares get stabbed, but saw him get “beaten” by three other individuals. He said he didn’t see any knives used during the fight, only fists, and that after fleeing toward Saks Fifth Avenue, he said he saw Linares “choking up blood.”
Mario A. said he has severed his ties with the eastside gang “because I don’t want to deal with this anymore.”
Since the preliminary hearing began last Monday, Dozer and Atkins have been vocal with their objections to one another’s questioning of witnesses.
Many of Dozer’s objections have charged Atkins’ questions as not being asked within the proper “scope” of the discussion.
As a result, Atkins said she hasn’t been able to unveil what she said is critical evidence, and will have to recall many of the witnesses who have already testified.
“He [Mr. Dozer] keeps objecting when we try to bring out the evidence that our client didn’t do it,” Atkins said. “My prediction is that Mr. Dozer is going to object when we get to them on other grounds.”
When asked about Atkins’ comments, Dozer said Atkins will be able to put on her case when the time comes.
“Just because she has a theory about what this case is about doesn’t mean she can just say it before putting her witnesses on,” Dozer said.
The preliminary hearing, which will determine if a formal jury trial will be held, resumes today at 9 a.m. in Department 14 located inside the Jury Services Building on Santa Barbara Street.