Results tagged “gang” from Inland Empire Courts

By Stacia Glenn on November 17, 2008 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) |

A judge this morning ruled that a rapper who denied being part of the Colton City Crips does indeed belong to the street gang.

40 Glocc, whose real name is Lawrence White, will therefore remain part of a preliminary gang injunction that banishes about 60 Colton City Crips members from the Arbor Terrace apartments at Rancho Avenue and Mill Street.

San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Donald Alvarez also ordered prosecutor Mark Vos and White's attorneys to rewrite language in the injunction to ensure that 40 Glocc can continue to rap.

By Stacia Glenn on November 17, 2008 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

A San Bernardino gang member wanted for a fatal shooting in December is expected to be extradited back to San Bernardino County this week, police said.

U.S. Marshal's agents arrested Darrin Pearson, 28, on Nov. 6 outside Memphis, Tenn. He has been charged with murder for the Dec. 24 slaying of 21-year-old Michael Rawlings in the 2100 block of E. Jane Street.

San Bernardino police detectives are expected to accompany Pearson back to the area by Wednesday.

Witness testimony continued today in the preliminary hearing for Javier Joaquin Luque who is charged with two shooting deaths in unincorporated San Bernardino in 2006.

A woman who was reportedly in the backseat of an SUV with Luque when deadly gunshots were fired at Ronald Jaramillo and Elizabeth Amaya continued her testimony from Nov. 6, when the hearing first began in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Luque faces charges in the deaths of driver Jaramillo and front passenger Amaya, both of San Bernardino, who were shot in a Chevrolet SUV on First Avenue near 40th Street in unincorporated San Bernardino on Sept. 6, 2006.

Superior Court officials have alerted lawyers that verdicts have been reached and will be announced shortly in the third criminal trial stemming from the slaying of 11-year-old Mynisha Crenshaw.

Deputy District Attorney Ron Webster confirmed about 2:30 p.m. today that lawyers are awaiting the veridcts on defendants Michael Barnett Jr. and Sinque Morrison in Victorville Superior Court.

Prosecutors say Barnett and Morrison were part of a larger group of suspected gang members who were seeking revenge against a rival gang when shots were fired into the San Bernardino apartment where Mynisha lived with her family in November 2005.

Inside the apartment, Mynisha was eating dinner with her family. Mynisha was struck once in the chest, while her then 14-year-old sister was shot in the right arm - severing the bone.

Prosecutors have insisted the girls' family had no gang ties and no weapons. The girls were unintended victims.

Two co-defendants, Sidikiba Greenwood and Harold Phillips, were convicted and sentenced to state prison earlier this year. Eight other defendants have taken plea bargains, of which three are awaiting sentencing.

Four San Bernardino gang members and associates were charged Thursday with the kidnapping of two women, one of whom was bound in an apartment closet for several days.

Daniel "Psycho" Mendivil, 29; Angelica Romero, 32; Albert "Laughing Boy" Gutierrez, 36; and Dellaery Limon, 26, were charged with two counts of kidnapping for ransom, according to San Bernardino Superior Court records.

Limon also faces an assault with deadly weapon charge for attacking one of the victims with a knife, records show.

A jury in the trial for two men charged with the deadly shooting of 11-year-old Mynisha Crenshaw is expected to continue deliberations Monday morning in Victorville Superior Court.

Jurors did not deliberate Thursday or Friday because the judge was not available, court officials said.

The two defendants, Michael Barnett Jr. and Sinque Morrison, were part of a larger group of suspected gang members who sought revenge against a rival gang when shots were fired into the San Bernardino apartment where Mynisha lived with her family in November 2005, according to prosecutors.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled next month for a set of identical twins and a third man charged with killing a Fontana man during a fight in San Bernardino that may have stemmed from a refusal to share marijuana.

The defendants --- Donte Lazon Mack, Dorian Lavonn Mack and Chrystopher Lamarr Young -- appeared briefly for a status hearing Thursday in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Prosecutors have charged the three men with murder and street gang allegations in the shooting death of 26-year-old Devin Tervelle McDavis at the Foothill Villas apartments on West Second Street on Aug. 11.

The defendants return to court Nov. 6 and a preliminary hearing was set for Nov. 10.

Here's an advance look at tomorrow's story today. This story about the preliminary hearing held today for Todd Jose Tibbs and Brandon Parks-Burns in San Bernardino Superior Court, will be in Thursday's edition of The Sun.

By Mike Cruz
Staff Writer

SAN BERNARDINO -- Two youths were ordered held over for trial Wednesday in an alleged gang payback shooting that killed 22-year-old Charles Marshall last year.

After listening to witness testimony, a judge ruled there was sufficient evidence to hold over Todd Jose Tibbs, 19, and 17-year-old Brandon Parks-Burns on murder charges during proceedings in San Bernadino Superior Court.

The case became a issue for San Bernardino police after an altercation developed between officers and mourners at a vigil held the next day after Marshall's death at a Westside apartment complex on Aug. 18, 2007.

Five men charged in a double-fatal, gang-related shooting in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Victorville are scheduled to appear in Superior Court Tuesday to determine whether they are ready for a preliminary hearing two days later.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's officials say the defendants were arrested in connection with a shooting at the retail giant on Bear Valley Road, in Victorville, at 1:05 a.m. on April 27 that killed two people.

Sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene and found 16-year-old Jose Constantino and Jaime Jimenez, 20, dead in the parking lot, officials said.

The sentencing for man convicted in the deadly shooting of 20-year-old Edward Griffin was postponed to Nov. 12 during proceedings Monday in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Patrick Shaun Macon appeared briefly Judge Ronald Christianson when lawyers announced the sentencing would be rescheduled.

For more details about the case, read earlier posts from The Sun's "Inland Empire Courts" blog:

Man convicted in death of Edward Griffin to be sentenced Monday

Jury returns split verdicts today in Macon/Crawford trial

A preliminary hearing was set for later this month for double-homicide defendant Javier Luque during proceedings Monday in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Luque is charged with the gang-related, deadly shooting of a man and woman in an Chevrolet Tahoe on First Avenue, near 40th Street, in unincorporated San Bernardino in September 2006.

A preliminary hearing in the case was scheduled for Oct. 29, and a court appearance to confirm the hearing was set for Oct. 27. Luque was not in court -- his appearance waived by his lawyer Deputy Public Defender Stephan Willms -- when the hearings were scheduled before Judge Michael Dest.

A high-ranking Mexican Mafia associate was sentenced to state prison Friday on extortion charges in connection with a 2006 carjacking case.

Albert Amaya, who authorities say collected "taxes," or a percentage of drug sales from other local gangs, was sentenced to 25 years to life during proceedings in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Amaya and another defendant in the case, Javier Joaquin Luque, were convicted by a jury in April in connection with the carjacking.

An armed Luque, 34, took a vehicle in August 2006 and left the victims, which included a 5-year-old child, on the street at night. Luque was even wearing a GPS anklet, affixed by authorities, at the time.

Amaya was convicted of extortion for taking the vehicle back to the owner the next day and demanding money.

"I'm happy, of course, that Albert Amaya got 25 years to life," Detienne said later, in a courthouse hallway. "I'm happy to get someone, with that kind of status, a life sentence."

Luque was sentenced to 32 years in state prison on a carjacking charge, while the Probation Department suggested 33 years in a pre-sentencing report and Luque's lawyer sought 24 years.

In a separate case, Luque also faces charges from the deadly shooting of Ronald Jaramillo, 35, and Elizabeth Amaya, 30, while they all traveled south in an SUV on First Avenue, near 40th Street, in unincorporated San Bernardino in September 2006.

Luque returns to court Monday for a pre-preliminary hearing in the double homicide case, which is eligible for the death penalty. However, prosecutors have not yet announced whether they plan to pursue it.

mike.cruz@inlandnewspapers.com

In announcing a second preliminary gang injunction in two days, the Office of District Attorney Michael A. Ramos released the following statement:

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
MICHAEL A. RAMOS
District Attorney

Date: September 25, 2008

Second Gang Injunction Granted

San Bernardino, CA - Today, San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Christopher J. Warner granted the San Bernardino County District Attorney's request for a preliminary injunction against the South Side Rialto criminal street gang. The court granted the preliminary injunction after finding that its terms were "appropriate," given the
activities of this gang.

Sun Staff Writer Stacia Glenn, who covers crime and public safety for the newspaper, posted an update on a preliminary gang injunction that authorities secured in Rialto. Authorities also got a gang injunction in Colton earlier this week.

By Stacia Glenn on September 25, 2008 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A gang injunction was secured this morning against a notorious Rialto street gang that police say have terrorized the city for three decades.

San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Christopher Warner granted the civil injunction, which will bar the 60 or so active gang members from sporting their tattoos, wearing gang clothing or gathering together in the roughly two-mile area once police serve notice.

The Office of District Attorney Michael A. Ramos issued a statement this afternoon regarding the preliminary gang injunction sought for the Colton City Crips.

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
MICHAEL A. RAMOS
District Attorney

Date: September 24, 2008

Judge Grants Gang Injunction

San Bernardino, CA - This morning, San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Donald Alvarez granted the San Bernardino County District Attorney's request for a preliminary injunction against the Colton City Crips criminal street gang. The court found "by clear and convincing evidence" that the gang was the cause of a public nuisance afflicting Arbor Terrace Apartments in Colton.

The preliminary injunction will provide immediate relief to the residents of Arbor Terrace, and to the businesses and residents in the surrounding area. Once served with the
order, non-resident gang members will be forbidden from visiting Arbor Terrace Apartment complex, and from loitering together in the immediate, surrounding area.

Sun Staff Writer Stacia Glenn gets us all up to speed on the latest gang injuction with this post from The Sun's Breaking News blog: http://www.insidesocal.com/news247/

By Stacia Glenn on September 24, 2008 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A preliminary gang injunction barring more than 50 members of the Colton City Crips from gathering together at the Arbor Terrace apartments was approved in San Bernardino Superior Court this morning.

Judge Donald Alvarez signed the injunction, which will provide "immediate relief" to residents who live in the 128-unit complex at 2170 N. Rancho Ave. nicknamed "The Zoo." A hearing to make the injunction permanent was not scheduled today.

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A third criminal trial in connection with the 2005 shooting death of 11-year-old Mynisha Crenshaw got underway Monday with pretrial motions in Victorville Superior Court, according to prosecutors.

Lawyers for Michael Barnett Jr. and Sinque Morrison, as well as Deputy District Attorney Ron Webster spent the day arguing various motions before the court about what could and could not be presented during the trial.

Panels of prospective jurors are scheduled to appear Tuesday in the courtroom of Judge John Tomberlin for jury selection, lawyers confirmed. Opening statements, which usually kick off the testimony phase of the trial, have not yet been scheduled.

The two remaining defendants in the deadly shooting of 11-year-old Mynisha Crenshaw are scheduled to appear for a pretrial hearing Friday in San Bernardino Superior Court.

At the hearing, lawyers for the two men, Michael Barnett Jr. and Sinque Morrison, are expected to decide whether they are ready for trial in the little girl's death, according to prosecutors.

Deputy District Attorney Ron Webster has announced that he is ready for trial, which was scheduled to start Sept. 22 before Judge Brian McCarville.

SAN BERNARDINO - Two men recently convicted of killing four men and wounding two others in the so-called "Dead Presidents" slayings in San Bernardino were sentenced today to death by lethal injection.

Defendants Luis Alonzo Mendoza and Lorenzo Inez Arias were sentenced in conjuction with a jury's findings during a several week trial in San Bernardino Superior Court. Judge Michael A. Smith ordered the pair to be transported to San Quentin State Prison.

Mendoza, 32, and Arias, 29, were part of a four-person armed group that fired gunshots at fellow gang members outside a duplex on West Vine Street, in San Bernardino, in July 2000.

SAN BERNARDINO - After hearing weeks of testimony, a jury aquitted one man and deadlocked on the charges against another Monday in the trial stemming from the 2007 deadly shooting of 20-year-old Edward Griffin on the city's Westside.

A third man, Patrick Shaun Macon, was found guilty of lesser charges -- voluntary manslaughter and attempted voluntary manslaughter -- and a street gang allegation was found not true, during proceedings in San Bernardino Superior Court.

The jury found Marsean Lamont Macon, Patrick's brother, not guilty of murder and attempted murder charges as well as all special allegations.