Trial was delayed Monday for two Long Beach teens charged as adults in the murder of a 16-year-old Long Beach youth and the attempted murder of five others during a gang-related shooting spree.
The defendants, Eric Benites and Jason Trejo, were 15 and 14 years old, respectively, at the time of the shooting but are being tried as adults and could face a lifetime behind bars if convicted on all counts.
The pair are charged in the 2008 slaying of 16-year-old Florentino Rivera, as well as the attempted murder of five others. The killing occurred when Benites and Trejo allegedly opened fire on a group of people near 15th Street and Cedar Avenue on Jan. 6, 2008, according to police and prosecutors.
Sources close to the defendants and the victims said the shooting stemmed from Benites' thirst for revenge in the killing of his 13-year-old brother, Jose Cano, who was stabbed to death in June 2007 by gang rivals at 14th Street Park.
Cano was killed after he allegedly attacked a 14-year-old gang rival's home and the 14-year-old's mother, Eva Daley, on June 25, 2007. Cano also stabbed the 14-year-old in a fight about six months prior to Cano's murder.
A total of six minors were tried for Cano's killing, the stabber was tried as an adult, and all were convicted, as well as Daley.
Friends of suspects in both killings said Benites was so incensed by the lack of action taken by his brother's gang and so distraught over his brother's death that he turned on his brother's gang.
Rivera's family has steadfastly denied he was in a gang, but friends of the victim and suspects said Rivera hung out with gang members and may have been shot accidentally or lumped into the group by association.
Deputy District Attorney Hector Gutierrez said at a preliminary hearing held last year that he could not speak to motive in the crimes, but the Gutierrez did say the investigation found Benites and Trejo are both members of the West Side Longos and that the two teens targeted members of their gang's longstanding and bitter rivals, the East Side Longos. Initially, the District Attorney's Office had charged Trejo with being the triggerman in Rivera's death. However, further investigation revealed evidence showing Benites had the murder weapon prior to Rivera's killing, not Trejo, and Benites is now charged as the triggerman in the Cabrillo High School student's death.
During their preliminary hearing, which was broken up over three days spanning the past couple of months, close to a dozen witnesses - including victims - were called to testify.
The trial was tentatively scheduled to begin Monday, Jan. 4, but was pushed back to Feb. 4 in Dept. C of the Long Beach Superior Court.
The defendants, Eric Benites and Jason Trejo, were 15 and 14 years old, respectively, at the time of the shooting but are being tried as adults and could face a lifetime behind bars if convicted on all counts.
The pair are charged in the 2008 slaying of 16-year-old Florentino Rivera, as well as the attempted murder of five others. The killing occurred when Benites and Trejo allegedly opened fire on a group of people near 15th Street and Cedar Avenue on Jan. 6, 2008, according to police and prosecutors.
Sources close to the defendants and the victims said the shooting stemmed from Benites' thirst for revenge in the killing of his 13-year-old brother, Jose Cano, who was stabbed to death in June 2007 by gang rivals at 14th Street Park.
Cano was killed after he allegedly attacked a 14-year-old gang rival's home and the 14-year-old's mother, Eva Daley, on June 25, 2007. Cano also stabbed the 14-year-old in a fight about six months prior to Cano's murder.
A total of six minors were tried for Cano's killing, the stabber was tried as an adult, and all were convicted, as well as Daley.
Friends of suspects in both killings said Benites was so incensed by the lack of action taken by his brother's gang and so distraught over his brother's death that he turned on his brother's gang.
Rivera's family has steadfastly denied he was in a gang, but friends of the victim and suspects said Rivera hung out with gang members and may have been shot accidentally or lumped into the group by association.
Deputy District Attorney Hector Gutierrez said at a preliminary hearing held last year that he could not speak to motive in the crimes, but the Gutierrez did say the investigation found Benites and Trejo are both members of the West Side Longos and that the two teens targeted members of their gang's longstanding and bitter rivals, the East Side Longos. Initially, the District Attorney's Office had charged Trejo with being the triggerman in Rivera's death. However, further investigation revealed evidence showing Benites had the murder weapon prior to Rivera's killing, not Trejo, and Benites is now charged as the triggerman in the Cabrillo High School student's death.
During their preliminary hearing, which was broken up over three days spanning the past couple of months, close to a dozen witnesses - including victims - were called to testify.
The trial was tentatively scheduled to begin Monday, Jan. 4, but was pushed back to Feb. 4 in Dept. C of the Long Beach Superior Court.
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Thanks. Some days there's more drive than others!
Nice site and great text.
I'm really to be finally posting online after all these years. There really is no mystique (sp) about it, is there? I just dropped by your blog and had to write something. I'm a recent college grad, journalism major if you must know, and I absolutely love photography. I've got my website up but it's nothing to brag about yet. None of my stuff's been posted. Soon as I figure out how to do that, I'll spend the afternoon posting my best pictures. anyhow just thought I'd drop a line. I hope to return with more substantial stuff, stuff you can actually use. SPG