Victims' kin talk in Dead Presidents trial

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.