July 2008 Archives

Testimony in the death penalty phase of the so-called "Dead Presidents" trial ended Wednesday in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to court sources.
Jurors have been listening to witnesses testify in the penalty phase to decide whether the two defendants - Luis Alonzo Mendoza and Lorenzo Inez Arias - should receive the death penalty or be sentenced to a life in state prison without parole.
Witnesses who testified in this phase have included family members of the victims and defendants, friends and experts. Jurors also heard details about the defendants' criminal history, personal background and family life while growing up.
Closing arguments from the lawyers are expected next week, and then the case will go to the jury for a second time.
Jurors already convicted Mendoza and Arias earlier this month for their roles in a quadruple homicide on West Vine Street in July 2000.
Authorities say Mendoza, 32, and Arias, 29, were part of a four-man crew that targeted street gang president Johnny Agudo because he had given information to police about another gang member.
Also killed were Agudo's 27-year-old brother, Gilbert Agudo; Anthony Daniel Luna, 23; and Luna's half-brother, Marselino Gregory Luna, 19.
Deputy District Attorney Cheryl Kersey has told jurors Mendoza was motivated by his desire to lead the gang, to eliminate an informant, to protect his own neighborhood and to increase his reputation.
Because the Agudo brothers were presidents of two local street gangs, some in law-enforcement circles have dubbed the case "Dead Presidents."
Another defendant in the case, John Adrian Ramirez, 34, recently took a plea bargain. A fourth man, Froylan Chiprez, 33, remains a fugitive.

The city has its share of prolific gang members.
But another one, who police suspect in three murders on the city's Westside, is about to be in the spotlight Thursday when he has a preliminary hearing in San Bernardino Superior Court.
Lawyers in the case of Bryant Jesus Urias, 23, announced they were ready for the hearing Tuesday before Judge Michael Dest.
At the preliminary hearing, prosecutors will present some of the evidence against Urias, and a judge will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to hold over the defendant for trial.
Prosecutors charged Urias with the deaths of:

• Eric Selvan, 31, of San Bernardino. He was shot in the head Jan. 22, 2006 inside a detached garage at his home in the 1100 block of West Mill Street. Selvan died two days later, after being taken off life support.


• Yobani Ramirez-Mendez, 16, of San Bernardino. Ramirez-Mendez was shot and killed Oct. 13, 2005 outside a house in the 1100 block of West Congress Street. Two brothers standing with Ramirez-Mendez were also struck by gunfire but survived.


• Antoine Jerome Lee, 36, of Highland. He was shot and killed Feb. 2, 2006 while getting into a car with his friend in the the 1000 block of West Belleview Street, near K Street.

All the shootings occurred within 1-square-mile with a boundary of Mount Vernon Avenue, K Street, Mill Street and Rialto Avenue.
Supervising Deputy District Attorney Victor Stull, who originally reviewed the case, described the slayings as "totally senseless," in an earlier interview.
Urias is charged with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder as well as special allegations. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted on all charges.

The big news today in San Bernardino Superior Court was the appearance by former Assistant Assessor Adam Aleman who was arraignment on six felony counts that he destroyed evidence and altered official documents.
Aleman had on a really nice gray suit and was accompanied in court by his fiancee Kelly Kuntz. The pair looked really out of place in a courtroom amongst all the working-class folks and defendants.
Aleman has hired a "big gun" to defend him, lawyer Grover Porter. This lawyer has defended a former Adelanto mayor and his wife in an embezzlement case and a former Colton city councilman in a case involving misuing public funds for sex telephone calls and unauthorized hotel stays.
Porter is also currently defending Danial Tidwell, the son of former Sheriff Floyd Tidwell, in a case stemming from the county's bail bond investigation.
If there's anyone who knows how to handle high-profile cases, it's Porter. The man emanates expertise and charm the moment he walks into the courtroom.
We'll be following the case extensively as it moves through the courts. So feel free to pass along any comments or tips.
Here's just a glimpse of Thursday's story today. See the rest of the story in The Sun and on our web site. Enjoy.

By Mike Cruz Staff Writer SAN BERNARDINO -- Sharply dressed in a gray suit, former Assistant Assessor Adam Aleman stood out amongst the working-class families in the courtroom where his arraignment was held Wednesday. Aleman, sitting next to his fiancee, rose from a wooden fold-up seat at the back of the courtroom when Judge John Martin called the case in San Bernardino Superior Court. Within minutes, Aleman and his lawyer, Grover Porter, entered not guilty pleas on all charges and allegations and set Sept. 30 as the next court date for a case status hearing.

A man who let himself into his younger brother's apartment and shot him last July in San Bernardino will be sentenced next month after a jury found him guilty of murder.
Louis Jefferson Crosby is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 21 in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to court records.
Jurors announced the verdict Thursday afternoon.
Avery John Crosby, 26, was sitting in his front room at 11:22 p.m. on July 11, 2007 when his brother stormed in, aimed a gun and fired.
Police responded to the Sunset Ridge apartments at 1700 E. Date Street and found Crosby bleeding inside. He was taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he later died.
The attack was the result of a family dispute that had gone on all day, according to police.
Avery Crosby, whom police said was a Los Angeles gang member on parole, lived with his girlfriend and child in the apartment.
Louis Crosby, 37, was arrested at 7:15 p.m. the next day at a Los Angeles home by the Inland Regional Apprehension Team, a group of local and federal law enforcement personnel who track down dangerous fugitives.

The court postponed a hearing Friday to address a possible motion by Christopher Richard Lanteigne to withdraw from a three-defendant plea bargain that spared his life.
Lanteigne will return Sept. 19 to San Bernardino Superior Court, where the motion will be addressed. If the court rejects Lanteigne's attempt to withdraw, then he is likely to be sentenced on that day, explained Deputy District Attorney Lewis Cope.
The triple-homicide defendant is seeking to withdraw his first-degree murder plea entered under an agreement that would send him to prison for life. Instead, he wants to go to trial.
If Lanteigne is allowed to withdraw, he could face the death penalty once again, prosecutors said.
The plea bargain was a package deal for Lanteigne and two other defendants in the case, Christopher Weaver and Camille Marie Vredenburg. Lanteigne's desire to leave the package could affect the outcome for the other two defendants.
Lanteigne is accused of murdering Clayton McCobb, 44, of Ramona; Scott Fisher, 42, of San Bernardino; and Kareem Mohammad Radwan, 26, of Loma Linda in 2004.

In a separate case, defendants Sinque Morrison and Michael Barnett Jr. will return to court on Aug. 8 in the Mynisha Crenshaw gang slaying.
Morrison and Barnett are last remaining defendants - from a total of 12 defendants - whose cases have not been resolved in the Mynisha case. Both men appeared Friday in San Bernardino Superior Court.
Prosecutors have said they are ready to go back to trial for the pair, but at least one of the defense lawyers has sought more time.
Morrison and Barnett are suspected to be part of a group of armed men who fired weapons into a San Bernardino apartment in 2005 while hunting down rival street gang members.
Inside the apartment, Mynisha and her family were having dinner. Mynish was struck once in the chest and died, while her older sister was seriously wounded.
Two other defendants, Harold Phillips and Sidkiba Greenwood, were sentenced July 11 for their roles in the slaying.
Phillips received 94 years and four months to life in prison after being convicted of four charges, including second- degree murder. Greenwood, whom prostecutors said planned the shooting, received 109 years to life for five charges, including first-degree murder.

Prosecutors are reporting that a preliminary hearing for Monica Monroe was scheduled for Monday in San Bernardino Superior Court.
Whether that date holds, and the hearing occurs without getting postponed, remains to be seen. In some cases, last-minute objections or motions from lawyers can continue the hearing to another date.
But the schedule was set today when Monroe appeared in court.
This preliminary hearing should be interesting because Monroe is represented by Woodland Hills-based lawyer Dale K. Galipo, who is also representing other folks who have been shot by police officers.
At a preliminary hearing, a judge will listen to evidence and testimony supporting the charges and then determine whether there is sufficient evidence to hold over the defendant for trial.
Monroe was charged with one count of assault on a peace officer, after San Bernardino Police say she raised a weightlifting bar at them when they were flagged down to assist with a domestic dispute on May 19 at her home.

Convicted child-killer Joseph Edward Duncan III is back in the news again.
Duncan is nearing a death-penalty hearing in Boise, after he pleaded guilty in December in the kidnapping and torture of two Idaho kids in 2005, one of whom died.
But most locals are going to remember Duncan as the suspect in the kidnapping and death of 10-year-old Anthony Ramirez, of Beaumont. Riverside County prosecutors are patiently waiting for Duncan's return, so they proceed in their own capital case.
Here's the latest update, with some help from the Associated Press, that ran on The Sun's web site:

By Mike Cruz Article Launched: 07/24/2008 03:25:39 PM PDT

A federal judge in Boise says convicted child-killer Joseph Edward Duncan III is mentally competent to face a death penalty hearing for the 2005 torture of two Idaho children, one of whom died.
Duncan also still faces charges in Riverside County, in a separate case, in the death of 10-year-old Anthony Martinez, who was snatched from outside his Beaumont home in 1997.
Anthony's nude and battered body was found nearly a decade later in rural Indio.
In Boise, Duncan faces the death penalty on three of 10 federal charges related to the 2005 kidnappings of young Dylan and Shasta Groene of Coeur d'Alene and the slaying of Dylan.
The defendant has asked U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge to allow him to represent himself. A hearing on whether that should be allowed is set for Monday.
Duncan pleaded guilty in that case in December and in state court to murdering three other members of the children's family.
The children were kidnapped, sexually abused and tortured for weeks in the remote Montana wilderness. Dylan was killed; Shasta was found with Duncan when he was captured.
Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco has called his office's case against Duncan "very compelling and overwhelming." He also plans to seek the death penalty.
Authorities say Anthony was taken on April 4, 1997, while he played outside his Beaumont apartment. A ranger found his body two weeks later beneath a pile of rocks in a remote area north of Indio.
Duncan did not become a suspect in Anthony's death until his 2005 arrest in Idaho, when he mentioned the boy's name.
A partial thumbprint found on duct tape used on Anthony matched Duncan, a 44-year-old drifter with a history of sex offenses dating back to when he was 17-years-old.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A Colton man was sentenced to five years probation and a year in jail for accidently discharging a gun that killed his 12-year-old niece.
Judge Bryan F. Foster sentenced Oswaldo Nunez under the terms of a plea bargain at a hearing Wednesday in San Bernardino Superior Court.
Court records indicate Nunez will serve 364 days in county jail as a straight sentence, with credit for 116 days he has already served.
As part of the plea bargain, Nunez pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter on June 24.
Under the terms of his probation, Nunez is not allowed to possess or have under his control any dangerous or deadly weapons, according to court records.
Nunez, 36, told Colton Police he was cleaning a gun in his home when it accidently discharged on March 29. A bullet tore through a wall and killed Julia Flores as she watched television.
Nunez's girlfriend and several children were in the house, in the 900 block of Sperry Drive, when the gun was fired. No one else was injured.
Julia, of Bellflower, was visiting the family for the weekend. She died at Loma Linda University Medical Center.

Here's an interesting story about a case outside the Inland Empire.
A cup left on a coffee shop table helped some savvy detectives solve a decades-old Los Angeles murder case. But the defendant appealed the conviction, citing an expectation of privacy.
However, the Associated Press reported today that a state appeals court upheld the verdicts.

Court upholds LA conviction on DNA from coffee cup

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A California appeals court has upheld the conviction of a man who was found guilty of a murder based on DNA evidence collected from a plastic foam coffee cup 30 years after the murder took place.
The 2nd District Court of Appeals' decision in the Los Angeles murder case was published Wednesday.
In 2006, Adolph Laudenberg was convicted of the 1972 strangling death of Lois Petrie, based on DNA evidence that detectives collected from the coffee cup more than 30 years later.
The court found that Laudenberg left the cup on a table in a coffee shop and therefore did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Jurors in the murder trial for three men charged with beating 22-year-old Jerry Ramirez with a shovel in 2005 were still deliberating for verdicts Wednesday, but court records signaled their possible trouble.
On Monday, Judge Bryan F. Foster and the lawyers in the case talked with the jurors after they advised the court shortly after 4 p.m. that they were deadlocked.
"Court finds the jurors are deadlocked and sends them back for further deliberation," according to San Bernardino Superior Court records.
The records also state that two of the jurors were "visibily upset." A juror also sent the court a note requesting to speak to the court about another juror.
No further information was available. Deputy District Attorney Karen Khim, who is prosecuting the case, did not return a phone call for comment.
Court officials confirmed jurors were still deliberating for verdicts just before 4 p.m. Wednesday in the trial for Edward Hernandez, his brother Benjamin Hernandez and Alfred Rodriguez.
Authorities have focused on a dispute over Ramirez's intimate relationship with the then-15-year-old daughter of Benjamin Hernandez. Defense lawyers have denied their client's alleged roles.
Ramirez was taken to a carport at an East Pumalo Street residence and beaten multiple times with a shovel about noon on Nov. 18, 2005, according to San Bernardino County prosecutors.
Still alive after the beating, Ramirez was rolled up in blankets, put into the trunk of a car and taken from the home. His body was found dumped in Waterman Canyon with several gunshot wounds to the head two days later.
The defendants were charged with murder and conspiracy.
A fourth defendant in the case, Edward Vincent Hernandez, is awaiting a separate trial and returns to court on July 31.

A jury found two gang members guilty late Tuesday in what prosecutors called a "robbery gone bad" that ended in the death of 43-year-old Barry Joseph Knight.
Jurors found defendants Ariel Lee Bolton and Davion Montae Keel each guilty of one count of first-degree murder. The verdicts were announced about 4 p.m. in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to court records.
The jury also found true special allegations, as to Bolton, that a firearm was used during the crime, according to Deputy District Attorney Ron Webster, who prosecuted the case. A special allegation that the act was a street gang crime was found not true by the jury.
The pair of defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 18.
Bolton, 21, and Keel, 18, are suspected members of a local street gang, witnesses testified in court.
Knight, of San Bernardino, was found shot multiple times about 5 a.m. on July 31, 2005, in front of the Hampton Inn, in the 600 block of West Fifth St., according to San Bernardino Police.
The victim was taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:20 a.m. the following day, according to county coroner's officials.

In a separate case, a Superior Court judge ordered Robert Harold McKinney held to answer the charges Tuesday in the shooting death of 18-year-old Jarrett Ojomoh.
Judge Douglas N. Gericke ruled there was sufficient evidence presented during a preliminary hearing to hold over McKinney for trial on murder and attempted murder charges in the shooting on April 11, 2007.
San Bernardino Police say Ojomoh and another man were walking on 19th Street just before 1 p.m. when two cars crept toward Medical Center Drive. Guns were fired from the cars as they drove past the two men.
Ojomoh and the other man ran and scaled a wall into the Dorjil apartments on 19th Street between Medical Center Drive and California Street. While one man ducked away to safety, Ojomoh was struck by gunfire.
Ojomoh fled to his girlfriend's nearby apartment, where he collapsed in her doorway and died.
McKinney, 20, was arrested on Mar. 5 in Monroe, La. during a drug sales investigation conducted by authorities there.

Eight years after four men lost their lives - and two others saw theirs changed forever - in a violent shooting on West Vine Street, the victims and their families were able to talk about their loved ones publicly.
The family members testified during the second phase, called the penalty phase, in the trial for two men who were convicted earlier this month in the shooting.
Jurors must now decide whether defendants Luis Alonzo Mendoza and Lorenzo Inez Arias deserve to be sentenced to death or live the rest of their lives in state prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors called Irma Flores, mother of victim Anthony Luna, to tell jurors about her son.
"He was one of the best sons I ever had," Flores testified, before a courtroom filled with friends and family. "He had a good personality. He loved life."
Anthony Luna left behind a two-month-old son.
Luna was one of four men who died in a shooting that began in the driveway of a duplex in the 1200 block of West Vine Street in July 2000 and continued into the street as the shooters chased some of the victims, according to San Bernardino Police.
Also killed in the shooting were Luna's half-brother Marcelino Luna, 19, 33-year-old Johnny Agudo and his brother Gilbert Agudo, 27.
Marcelino Luna's mother, Patricia Jeffers, told jurors about the pain of losing two sons within weeks. Jeffers also lost son Edward Vargas in a shooting two months earlier in San Bernardino.
Anthony Luna's wife testified about how holidays are not the same. She broke down while telling jurors about how she sees him every day in the eyes of her son.
One of the victims who survived the shooting, Armando Villasenor, testified about how the victims had all been his friends. Today, his life is changed and is built around his family.
Family is now the focus for Villasenor, who choked back tears on the witness stand. Trusting people is much harder since the shooting, he explained.
Mendoza and Arias were part of a four-man armed crew, dressed in dark puffy clothing and wearing body armor, that had targeted Johnny Agudo for control of the gang and providing information to police, according to prosecutors.
During her opening argument, Kersey told jurors they would be considering both aggravating and mitigating factors related to Mendoza and Arias in determining whether the two men should receive the death penalty or have their lives spared.
Another co-defendant John Ramirez took a plea bargain and was sentenced to 12 years in state prison. A fourth man, Froylan Chiprez, is considered to be a fugitive and believed to be hiding in Mexico.
The Agudo brothers were presidents of local street gangs, according to prosecutors. Because of those circumstances, some in law enforcement circles dubbed the case "Dead Presidents."
Testimony in the trial is expected to continue today in San Bernardino Superior Court.

A 34-year-old San Bernardino man took a plea bargain Friday in the 2004 beating death of his girlfriend's father John Velasquez during an argument.
James Paul Pineda pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter, one count of robbery and he admitted having a prior felony conviction under the terms of the plea bargain, according to San Bernardino Superior Court records.
Pineda returns to court Aug. 29 for sentencing.
An argument between Pineda and the 53-year-old Velasquez apparently led to a confrontation at 1:43 a.m. at a West 11th Street apartment, in San Bernardino, in April 2004, according to San Bernardino Police.
Velasquez later died at a local hospital.

A Kansas City murder suspect, who was arrested in San Bernardino in August, now seeks to represent himself after a failed attempt to replace his lawyer in court, according to prosecutors.
Thomas Mackey, 39, filed a Marsden motion to replace his lawyer and was denied during proceedings Monday in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to Deputy District Attorney Beth Houser.
Mackey then came back and filed a Faretta Waiver, which is a request to represent himself in court. That motion is expected to addressed by the court Tuesday.
Mackey had an arrest warrant for murder from Kansas City, Kan. when San Bernardino Police spotted him inside a Super 99 Cent Plus, near Base Line and Victoria Avenue, on Aug. 14, 2007.
According to witnesses, Mackey fired several gunshots at deputies as they tried to arrest him. He took a ladder to the roof, was shot by deputies and landed on the ground. He was taken to LLUMC, where he survived the shooting.

Jurors continued to deliberate Monday in two murder trials in San Bernardino Superior Court.
In the trial for three men accused of beating to death 22-year-old Jerry Ramirez, jurors have been deliberating since Wednesday. Prosecutors allege Benjamin Hernandez, his brother Edward Hernandez and Alfred Ray Rodriguez beat Ramirez multiple times with a shovel under a carport at an East Pumalo Street residence in 2005.
The victim's body was found dumped in Waterman Canyon with several gunshot wounds to the head on Nov. 20, 2005. Prosecutors charged the defendants with murder and conspiracy.

In a separate, unrelated trial, jurors continued to deliberate Monday in case against Ariel Lee Bolton, 21, and Davion Montae Keel, 18, in San Bernardino Superior Court.
Prosecutors allege the two men shot to death 43-year-old Barry Joseph Knight during a robbery-gone-bad.
Knight, of San Bernardino, was found shot multiple times about 5 a.m. on July 31, 2005, in front of the Hampton Inn, in the 600 block of West Fifth St., according to San Bernardino Police.
Emergency personnel transported Knight to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:20 a.m. the following day, according to county coroner's officials.
Bolton and Keel are alleged to be members of a street gang, according to court testimony.

The sentencing for Keith Slaughter was postponed for the third time Monday morning in San Bernardino Superior Court. The 20-year-old San Bernardino man appeared to be in good spirits while seated in the jury box for the proceedings.
The defense requested and received a continuance. Slaughter will return to court for sentencing on Aug. 12, court officials confirmed.
A jury found Slaughter guilty in April of three gang-related shootings in San Bernardino, one of them killing 14-year-old Jarred Mitchell on West Home Avenue in 2006. The seven-woman, five-man jury found Slaughter guilty on 18 of the 20 counts charged to him.
Slaughter faces more than 200 years to life in state prison when he is sentenced, according to prosecutors.

Meanwhile, a defendant who took a plea bargain and testified in the so-called "Dead Presidents" quadruple slaying was sentenced to 12 years in state prison on Friday, according to court officials.
John Adrian Ramirez received the most favorable outcome during his sentencing in San Bernardino Superior Court. Ramirez testified that he could receive between 12 and 32 years in prison, depending on how truthful the court deemed his testimony during the trial for co-defendants Luis Alonzo Mendoza and Lorenzo Inez Arias.
Ramirez has been in custody since October 2001 in San Bernardino County, according to court records.
Under the plea bargain, Ramirez pleaded guilty to four counts of voluntary manslaughter, two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter and special allegations that the shooting was gang-related and that a firearm was used.
Mendoza and Arias now face the possible death penalty after being found guilty earlier this month in the gang-related slayings of four men on West Vine Street in July 2000. The penalty phase in their trial, to decide whether they get death or spend life in prison without parole, begins Tuesday.
Two of the victims, 33-year-old Johnny Agudo and his brother Gilbert Agudo, 27, were presidents of local street gangs, say police. Also killed were Anthony Daniel Luna, 23, and Luna's half brother, Marselino Gregory Luna, 19. Two other men were wounded.
Because of the circumstances, some in law enforcement circles dubbed the case "Dead Presidents."
A fourth defendant, Froylan Chiprez, is believed to be a fugitive hiding in Mexico.

Jurors will now decide whether three family members should be held responsible for the deadly beating of 22-year-old Jerry Ramirez with a shovel in November 2005.
Lawyers in the trial of Benjamin Hernandez, his brother Edward Hernandez and Alfred Rodriguez wrapped up their closing arguments on Wednesday and Tuesday in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to court records.
Authorities have focused on a dispute over Ramirez's intimate relationship with a then 15-year-old Tina Lopez, the daughter of Benjamin Hernandez, in investigating the death.
Ramirez was taken to a carport at an East Pumalo Street residence and beaten multiple times with a shovel about noon on Nov. 18, 2005, according to prosecutors.
Witnesses reported hearing and seeing the beating. Still alive after the beating, Ramirez was rolled up in blankets, put into the trunk of a car and taken from the home.
The victim's body was found dumped in Waterman Canyon with several gunshot wounds to the head on Nov. 20, 2005.
Prosecutors charged the defendants with murder and conspiracy.
Defense lawyers for the men have denied their clients involvement.
A fourth man, Edward Vincent Hernandez, the son of Edward Hernandez, is awaiting trial and returns to court Friday for a readiness hearing.

A preliminary hearing for Robert Harold KcKinney, who is charged with the shooting death of 18-year-old Jarrett Ojomoh, was postponed for one day.
Judge Arthur Harrison ruled the hearing will be at 8:30 a.m. Friday in San Bernardino Superior Court, during a court appearance today for McKinney.
At a preliminary hearing, a judge will determine whether prosecutors have presented sufficient evidence to hold over McKinney for trial on charges of murder and attempted murder.
San Bernardino Police suspect McKinney, 19, in the deadly shooting of Ojomoh on 19th Street, near Medical Center Drive, in San Bernardino, on April 11, 2007.
Ojomoh, of Canyon Lake, and another man were walking on 19th Street just before 1 p.m., when gunfire erupted from two cars as they drove past the two men.
Both men ran and scaled a wall into the Dorjil apartments on 19th Street between Medical Center Drive and California Street. Ojomoh was struck while the other man ducked away to safety.
McKinney was arrested March 5 in Monroe, La., during an investigation of drug sales, according to an arrest affidavit in Ouachita Parish.

I reported on July 8 that Kris Antonio Wiggins was no longer represented by the two high-end lawyers - both of whom were former county prosecutors - that he once had.
Wiggins faces charges in the shooting death of Rialto SWAT Office Sergio Carrera Jr., 29, during the serving of a search warrant at Wiggins' apartment on West Cascade Drive on Oct. 18.
Both defense lawyers Michael Holmes and Salvador Silva were relieved from the case on July 1 by Judge Ingrid A. Uhler, according to court records. Neither of the lawyers returned our calls seeking comment about their departure.
But on Monday, Wiggins was represented by Deputy Public Defender George Wright when he entered not guilty pleas and denied all special allegations at a formal arraignment in Fontana Superior Court.
The court clerk notified Holmes, who is based in Rancho Cucamonga, and Silva, who works out of Irvine, that all discovery in the case must be turned over to the Public Defender's Homicide Unit by Friday.
Wiggins returns to court on Aug. 12 for a pretrial hearing, and a jury trial was set for Aug. 25. But the trial date is not likely to hold, because a new lawyer in the case generally needs more time to prepare for trial.
The case is being closely watched by Rialto Police, who have strongly denied suggestions that the shooting may have been the result of friendly fire. Authorities say Wiggins struggled with one of the SWAT officers serving the warrant, and that officer's gun fired and struck Carrera.

Prosecutors confirmed today that a preliminary hearing for Robert Harold McKinney is set for Thursday in the shooting death of 18-year-old Jarrett Ojomoh.
The hearing, which will determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to hold McKinney over for trial on murder charges, is set for 8:30 a.m. in San Bernardino Superior Court.
McKinney, 19, was arrested March 5 in Monroe, La., during an investigation of drug sales, according to an arrest affidavit in Ouachita Parish.
Officers there arrested McKinney, who initially identified himself as Montae Taylor, with a .357 caliber pistol in his shorts and two bags of marijuana in a jacket pocket.
San Bernardino County authorities wanted McKinney, 19, who was suspected in the deadly shooting of Ojomoh on 19th Street, near Medical Center Drive, in San Bernardino, on April 11, 2007.
Ojomoh, of Canyon Lake, and another man were walking on 19th Street just before 1 p.m., when two cars began to creep toward Medical Center Drive, police said. Gunfire erupted from both cars as they drove past the two men.
Both men ran and scaled a wall into the Dorjil apartments on 19th Street between Medical Center Drive and California Street.
One man hid in safety from the shooters, but Ojomoh wasn't as lucky. Ojomoh ran to his girlfriend's apartment nearby and collapsed in the doorway.
Ojomoh grew up in San Bernardino and played football his freshman year at Cajon High School, his aunt Tasha Davis earlier told The Sun. He transferred to Redlands High School in his junior year when his family moved to east Highland. He graduated in June 2006.

A Superior Court judge ordered Yoaddan Aguilar held to face charges Tuesday in the New Years beating death of a 25-year-old Colton man.
Judge Dwight W. Moore ruled there was sufficient evidence to hold over Aguilar for trial on murder charges in the fatal beating of Adam John Rivera during a hearing in Fontana Superior Court, according to court records.
Aguilar will return to court July 31 to be formally arraigned on the charges. If convicted, he faces up to life in state prison.
Rivera was the first death in San Bernardino County in 2008.
Aguilar, 22, of Rialto, left a New Years Eve house party in Fontana driving a 2005 Chevrolet Avalanche with his girlfriend, Rivera and other intoxicated friends, according to Fontana Police. Aguilar stopped the vehicle on Alder Avenue, dragged Rivera out and repeatedly punched him, police reported.
A passer-by used a cell phone to call the police.
Paramedics found Rivera unconscious when they arrived. He was pronounced dead at 5:44 a.m. at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, police said.

Lawyers for two suspected gang members charged in the death of 43-year-old Barry Joseph Knight, during a 2005 "robbery gone bad," rested their cases Tuesday in San Bernardino Superior Court.
Lawyers for Ariel Lee Bolton, 21, and Davion Montae Keel, 18, rested their cases during the afternoon session without calling any witnesses to testify. Prosecutors wrapped up their case against the pair earlier that morning on the testimony of two San Bernardino Police officers, according to court records.
Closing arguments were likely set for today. Deputy District Attorney Ron Webster, who is prosecuting the case, was not immediately available for confirmation.
Knight, of San Bernardino, was found shot multiple times about 5 a.m., on July 31, 2005, in front of the Hampton Inn, in the 600 block of West Fifth St., according to San Bernardino Police.
The victim was taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:20 a.m. the following day, according to county coroner's officials.
In a rare move Monday, Bolton wore his orange jail garb to the trial proceedings after refusing to wear the clothing his lawyer had brought for him, according to court records.