BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER
Four people charged with murder in connection to a Fourth of July homicide near Stearns Wharf entered pleas of not guilty yesterday in Superior Court.
Deputy District Attorney Kimberly Smith said the four people will be tried as co-defendants on the charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and a number of gang enhancements.
Three of the four defendants are juveniles and will be tried as adults. One of the juveniles, 17-year-old David Roldan, is the older brother of the victim, 15-year-old Emmanuel Roldan.
The other boys charged with murder are Daniel Cervantes and Victor Arroyo, who are both 15. The lone adult charged is 21-year-old Miguel Marquez.
Emmanuel Roldan was one of three people stabbed on Independence Day in what police said was a string of gang-related fights just before 9:30 p.m. All of the stabbings occurred along Cabrillo Boulevard, which was the site of the city’s Fourth of July fireworks show.
The two other boys who were stabbed were treated and released from the hospital. Police made 10 arrests in connection with the stabbings, but so far only four have been charged. Smith said that doesn’t mean more won’t be arrested in the days and weeks to come.
“There’s still an ongoing investigation as to other potential participants,” she said.
Emmanuel Roldan’s death marked the third gang-related homicide in the past year and a half in Santa Barbara. In all three cases, the victims were stabbed to death.
Yesterday’s pleas came on the day of the one-year anniversary of the killing of 16-year-old Lorenzo Valentin Carachure, who was stabbed to death near his home on San Pascual Street. A memorial mass is scheduled to take place today in honor of Carachure.
In the first homicide, which occurred at the intersection of State and Carrillo streets in broad daylight on March 14, 2007, 15-year-old Luis Angel Linares was stabbed eight times before dying in a planter in a parking lot behind the Saks Fifth Avenue store.
The boy charged with murdering Linares is 15-year-old Ricardo Ricky Juarez, who was 14 when he was arrested. A trial for Juarez is expected to begin sometime in the next two weeks.
In all three cases, juveniles have been charged with murder, and all of those juveniles are being tried as adults.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Suspects plead 'not guilty' for July Fourth killing
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5 comments:
Our town has succumbed to the explosive plague of gang violence. It will only get worse as long as they are free to terrorize one another and innocent citizens. We need Batman to come in and do some cleanup.
Gang injunction, 287(g), gang injunction, 287(g), gang injunction, 287(g), gang injunction, 287(g),gang injunction, 287(g)...
the Mayor and the Chief need to grow some stones. stop trying to find outlets for these gang banging losers. stop wasting taxpayers money on these programs. it is bad enough our taxes are feeding, clothing and housing most of these anchor babies with their illegal parents, aunts and uncles.
Is it going to take the murder of one of the thousands of tourists who spend thousands of dollars in this city to get them to do something worthwhile?
Get ICE involved. let our cops check illegal status of the criminals in this town. if we get rid of the ones who are not supposed to be here anyways, it will free up some more time to focus on the criminals who are actually citizens.
stop wasting our money!!
gang injunctions should be nationwide.
How many more kids have to be killed before the city officials and "community" leaders stop blaming the lack of programs and the schools for lack of supervision and look at the real problems: GANGS, the kids who are in the gangs, and the parents who do not or cannot control their kids. IMPORTANT QUESTION: Why is that we hold parents responsible if kids start a fire, crash a car, etc.. but the parents are nowhere to be found, nor in any way held accountable if their 15-year old kills another kid. These "children" are committing "ADULT" crimes and they KNOW what they are doing. Stop enabling them!! If they aren't citizens, and their parents aren't citizens when the investigation takes place.. then send them back to their home country and let them go through the process to come here legally. Can we PLEASE stop enabling crime committing gang members (no matter what their age is) and spending so much money on it!!!
Why not use the tools available?
A Gang Injunction is just one tool to help combat our problem. It’s not a fix all Nuclear Option, but why not utilize what ever legal resources available?
As of now, the laws and penalties for Truancy under EC Section 48293 (a) (b) (c) hold more parental penalties than gang membership.
While I expect nothing from the City Council and Staff (ever been to a meeting?) The Police Chief was hired not to put his head in the sand and sing Kumbaya with the Mayor.
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