Hearing begins in Leal homicide case

By ERIC LINDBERG — Dec. 3, 2009

Six people charged with murder and conspiracy in the slaying of a 22-year-old Santa Barbara man earlier this year appeared in court yesterday as prosecutors presented evidence against them during a preliminary hearing.

The victim, Baldemar Leal, was found stabbed to death along the 400 block of De la Vina Street in the early morning hours of February 22, just two days after he had moved to a home in that area.

A police investigation allegedly linked the six co-defendants to the homicide and authorities charged them with murder, conspiracy, gang enhancements and assault with a deadly weapon, among other special allegations.

Those currently facing prosecution are Jonathon Alonzo, 21; Liliana Arrayga, 19; Andrew Baldarez, 36; Michelle Flores-Murillo, 30; Imelda Guevarra, 30; and David Martinez, 22.

Yesterday’s hearing focused largely on testimony from police officers who initially responded to the scene of the homicide. Senior Deputy District Attorney Hilary Dozer used that testimony to piece together a witness account of the assault.

A resident who lived at the corner of De la Vina Street and Cottage Grove Avenue told authorities he had stepped outside to smoke a cigarette at 9:30 p.m. on February 21. He reportedly heard cries of pain and saw four men attacking another man approximately 30 feet away on De la Vina Street, officers testified.

The victim dropped to the ground at one point and the four men fled south toward the witness, who had stepped away from his porch toward the sidewalk for a better view. One suspect stood out as he ran along the sidewalk.

“[The witness] described him as very fat,” Det. Jose LaTorre testified. “It seemed kind of funny to him to see this guy running because he was so fat.”

The witness told police the four suspects turned right on Cottage Grove Avenue and appeared to get into an SUV, which took off toward Bath Street. After telling his roommates what had happened, the witness returned to the street to determine if the victim needed any help, but failed to turn up any signs of the man in the darkness.

Another resident on the block returned home from a night job at approximately 6:50 a.m. the following day and found Leal facedown in a dirt shoulder between the roadway and the sidewalk. Medics pronounced the 22-year-old dead on the scene from apparent stab wounds to the chest and back.

Perhaps the most compelling testimony of the day came from Det. Michael Claytor, the primary investigator on the case, who described how the investigation led him to present a photo lineup to the eyewitness. The witness picked out Balderaz as the heavyset man he saw running from the scene of the apparent assault.

Claytor interviewed Balderaz the day after Leal’s body was discovered, once officers had served a search and arrest warrant at the co-defendant’s home in the 800 block of W. Victoria Street. Among the items seized during the search was a black and gold folding knife that Balderaz allegedly admitted belonged to him.

“He told me that he stabbed Baldemar Leal with the knife,” Claytor testified.

Balderaz reportedly told police that Guevarra, another defendant in the case, had approached him at a party on the night of the slaying asking for his help. She was having trouble with a man and told Balderaz and several other alleged Westside gang members that she wanted them to “rough him up.”

Claytor testified that Balderaz denied knowing any details about the problem between Guevarra and the man, presumed to be Leal. However, court documents reviewed by the Daily Sound indicated that investigators believe Guevarra had told a friend that Leal attempted to sexually assault her on several occasions six months earlier.

Guevarra reportedly drove Balderaz and three other suspects to the scene of the assault on De la Vina Street that evening, Claytor testified, where they allegedly confronted and stabbed Leal to death.

Under questioning by Dozer, the detective also set a basis for the criminal street gang charges filed against Balderaz. Claytor said the co-defendant told him during the police interview that he had been “jumped in” to a gang known as the “Westside Lokitos” at age 14 and was given the gang moniker of “Sober.”

After going to prison several times, including a 1992 conviction for assault with a deadly weapon, Balderaz said he was “jumped out” of the gang at age 34, the detective said. But he reportedly retained his connection to the gang, authorities said, and had admitted to scrawling gang-related graffiti only months prior to Leal’s slaying on a shoebox that was seized from his room.

Further testimony in the preliminary hearing will continue today and should conclude by tomorrow or early next week. The prosecution is expected to develop the conspiracy angle of the case and begin drawing connections among the six co-defendants.

If Judge Frank Ochoa finds enough evidence exists against the defendants at the conclusion of the hearing, the case will proceed toward a jury trial.

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Ochoa : 12/3/2009

Judge Frank Ochoa? Are you kidding me? He'll let them all off with probation if they're convicted. Might as well skip the trial and save some money. What a travesty that man is to the saftey of Santa Barbarans.

Lenore

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Gangs seem to have the upper hand : 12/3/2009

Our city sure spends a lot of money on gang members. How much could that possibly add up to in a year's time? What better things we could be spending the money on.

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What are you saying? : 12/5/2009

Are you suggesting that we stop spending money on trying to deal with these violent crimnals?!?

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