October 2011 Archives

SAN BERNARDINO - The family and lawyer of a Lancaster man who is accused of robbing a Grand Terrace liquor store three times in 2009 say he isn't the armed man who authorities see in surveillance videos.

Derik Carl Garcia appeared Friday before Judge Harold Wilson in San Bernardino Superior Court, where lawyers set a jury trial for Garcia in December. He returns to court Nov. 23.

Garcia, 30, is charged with robbing Smart Time food store at gunpoint in August and twice in December 2009. Sheriff's detectives have surveillance videos that show a Hispanic man robbing the store on Barton Road, near Canal Street, according to the defense.

By Lori Consalvo, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/28/2011 06:05:18 PM PDT

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - A man claiming to be the son of famed Doors' lead singer Jim Morrison denied a prosecutor's offer to significantly lower his prison time on a robbery charge Friday.

Clifford Morrison, 42, could get 75 years to life if he is found guilty of robbery and ramming a police car during a chase early last year in Ontario.

San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Dinah Touny said she would take the life sentence off the table, and Morrison could have 15 years with an "end date."

"We offered again today, on the record," Touny said during the hearing. "It had been conveyed to the defendant's attorney... and his attorney indicated that he was not interested."

SAN BERNARDINO -- Three defendants in the "Devils Professor" drug-trafficking case -- including alleged methamphetamine supplier Jeremy Disney -- pleaded not guilty to the charges Friday.

Holly Robinson, of Highland, Hans Preszler and Disney, both of San Bernardino, appeared before Judge Kenneth Barr, who entered the pleas and denied all allegations on behalf of the defendants, during their arraignment in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Prosecutors say the three defendants were part of a trafficking ring operated by Cal State professor Steve Kinzey, who authorities say is also president of the San Bernardino Mountains Chapter of the Devils Diciples motorcycle club.

SAN BERNARDINO -- A jury found two young men guilty Wednesday in the beating death of 63-year-old Nathan Macon during a fight at a San Bernardino convenience store.

Jurors found Milton Walker, and his brother, Jerome Walker, guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of Macon last year at Jimmy's Food Store, near Base Line and Medical Center Drive.

The Walkers, in their early 20s at the time Macon was killed, are scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 2. A key piece of trial evidence - a security video recorded from inside the store - showed the Walkers punching a drunken Macon after he had yelled threats.

Family members of the victim cried and hugged eachother upon hearing the verdicts.

Arraignment was postponed Tuesday for a Diamond Bar teacher who authorities allege was having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student.

Steven Shane Andrews, 41, was scheduled to be arraigned in Pomona Superior Court, but the proceedings were postponed, confirmed Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Andrews, a teacher at Lorbeer Middle School, faces 18 felony counts stemming from an alleged relationship with the girl from May through September, according to a criminal complaint filed in Superior Court by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Andrews is scheduled to return to court Nov. 1 for arraignment on the charges, Gibbons said.

The controversy over a California law that bars livestock which cannot walk from entering the country's food supply will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court next month.

The state law,amended in 2008 in the aftermath of an investigation at the Westland/Hallmark plant in Chino, has created a legal showdown between the nationwide meatpacking industry and advocates for farm animals.

At issue is whether California can create its own laws to safeguard its food supply and prevent farm animal abuse, while preempting federal law which regulates slaughterhouses and prevents the slaughter and processing of cattle which cannot walk, according to court briefs.

The issue is set to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 9, according to the court.

Nearly a dozen search warrants and their affidavits served by investigators probing the Colonies Partners LP $102million settlement with San Bernardino County were ordered unsealed Monday for defense lawyers.

Lawyers for Jeff Burum, co-managing partner of Colonies Partners LP, have been trying to secure release of the warrants since June as part of their effort to fight the criminal charges against their client.

Those charges are part of a sweeping criminal probe of alleged county corruption.

A San Bernardino man is expected to be arraigned today on charges alleging that he supplied methamphetamine to CSUSB associate professor Steve Kinzey for distribution in a drug trafficking ring.

Jeremy Disney, whose scheduled appearance Thursday in San Bernardino Superior Court was put over to today, faces two felony charges for his part in the so-called "Devils Professor" case, according to court personnel.

Prosecutors allege Disney, 31, also has four prior convictions in Superior Court, court records show.

Mike Cruz and Joe Nelson, The (San Bernardino County) Sun
Posted: 10/24/2011 02:55:29 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO -- A Superior Court judge on Monday declined to bar more than 2,000 pages of Grand Jury transcripts in a criminal corruption probe from being used in a civil case involving the county and three other public entities.

Attorneys representing the county filed a motion with the court in September attempting to block the defendants in an indemnity lawsuit from using the transcripts in its defense. The county sued San Bernardino Associated Governments (SanBag), Caltrans and the city of Upland in 2004, seeking to recover any damages that could arise from a separate land rights lawsuit it was engaged in with Rancho Cucamonga developer Colonies Partners LP.

The developer sued the county in 2002, arguing the county abandoned its flood control easements and refused to pay for flood control improvements on its 434-acre residential and commercial development in Upland. The county settled with the developer in November 2006 for $102 million, a settlement prosecutors now say was tainted by bribery and conflict of interest.

Liset Márquez, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/20/2011 12:03:54 PM PDT

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - City officials have reached agreement with the landlord to evict a medical-marijuana dispensary that has operated in the city for two weeks without a business license.

The landlord of a shopping center at 856 S. Mountain Ave. agreed Thursday to evict the tenant, HPMC, also known as Holistic Pain Management Center, which was order closed by the city Wednesday.

City Attorney John Brown said the landlord is expected to serve a notice to the dispensary no later than next week.

SAN BERNARDINO - Jeffrey Ortiz testified Thursday about the horrific, alcohol-related crash in 2005 that killed his brother and best friend - both just 17 years old - as the first witness called in the trial for Charles Gregory Callion.

Highway patrol officers allege Callion drove a Chevrolet Suburban the wrong way on the southbound 215 Freeway near Grand Terrace and collided head-on into a two-door Saturn carrying the three teens.

Callion had six prior convictions for drunken driving since 1991, say prosecutors. Now he faces second-degree murder charges as part of a six-count criminal complaint in San Bernardino Superior Court.

By Will Bigham, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/23/2011 03:16:18 PM PDT

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - Seven people have pleaded not guilty to murder and other criminal charges in connection with the alleged kidnapping and killing of a 22-year-old Montclair man.

Erick Estuardo Cate's body was found Tuesday in the area of the 15 and 8 freeways in San Diego. He was reported missing Oct. 12 from the 2400 block of West Arrow Route in Upland.

Prosecutors filed three felonies - murder, kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon - against each of the seven people suspected of participating in Cate's alleged killing.

FONTANA - A Phelan man who plowed into a family on bicycles in Rialto while driving drunk - killing a little girl weeks before her second birthday - has been was sentenced to 19 years in state prison.

Jesse Rolando Astorga appeared in Fontana Superior Court for sentencing proceedings on Friday, after he pleaded guilty Sept. 9 to five felony counts as part of a plea bargain.

Rialto police say Astorga fled from a fender bender with another car in June 2008, when he ran his 2008 Honda Pilot into a median on South Willow Avenue a few minutes after noon, veered to the right, jumped a curb and struck a family of four riding on the sidewalk.

SAN BERNARDINO - Three of nine defendants in a conspiracy to commit murder case involving a local street gang took plea bargain Friday, while a fourth one picked up new charges for assaulting a confidential police informant.

The nine alleged members and associates of the Pimps, Players, Hustlers and Gangsters street gang appeared before Judge Michael A. Smith on Friday to determine if their case was ready to go to trial in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Prosecutors announced new charges were filed earlier this week against Dearnaz Lorenzo Wilson, after he allegedly attacked the informant - the prosecution's sole witness in the conspiracy case - on Oct. 5.

SAN BERNARDINO - Have an old, unpaid traffic ticket that you just haven't taken care of? Now is your chance.

Starting in January, the Superior Court of San Bernardino County will be offering a 50-percent discount on some old, unpaid traffic tickets.

It's a limited time "amnesty program" being offered in all 58 counties statewide. Court officials estimate more than 6 million cases across the state could qualify.

"This is a win-win," Ron Overholt, interim administrative director of the courts, said in a press release last week announcing the program.

SAN BERNARDINO - Four local members of the Vagos motorcycle club, who were arrested earlier this month in a raid across Southern California, appeared before a Superior Court judge Tuesday.

Two of the men, Thomas Henry Gibson and Andrew Eloy Lozano, sought bail reviews by Judge Michael Dest in San Bernardino Superior Court to have their bail reduced.

Lozano's lawyer Mark McDonald, who substituted-in to represent Gibson, 60, of San Bernardino, told the court that Gibson is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail.

But based on his client's charges of possession of marijuana for sale and participation in a criminal street gang, McDonald argued that $50,000-100,000 bail "is more appropriate."

Joe Nelson, The (San Bernardino County) Sun
Posted: 10/17/2011 02:19:00 PM PDT

The attorney defending former San Bernardino County Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin in a sweeping corruption probe is alleging that an FBI search of Erwin's home was flawed and that Erwin's civil rights were violated.

A motion filed by attorney Rajan Maline in U.S. District Court in Riverside on Oct. 11 is the second to be filed in the last three weeks challenging the strength of the Sept. 15 FBI raid in connection with an investigation into the county's $102 million legal settlement with Rancho Cucamonga developer Colonies Partners LP in November 2006.

On Oct. 3, attorney Stephen Larson, who represents Colonies' co-managing partner Jeff Burum, filed a motion with the court alleging Burum's civil rights were violated and FBI agents essentially lied to him and in an official court document, tainting the search altogether.

SAN BERNARDINO - Emotions ran high Monday at the trial for two brothers accused of beating to death a 63-year-old man at a Westside convenience store.

A woman in the courtroom gallery reacted with a loud "wow" as prosecutors played for San Bernardino Superior Court jurors a video from a security camera that showed Nathan Macon being punched several times.

Moments later, another woman erupted into tears and was yelling as she left the courtroom. Loud sobs and yelling could be heard in the hallway.

The reaction came while the owner of Jimmy's Food Store - the trial's first witness - testified about the March 2010 deadly confrontation with Macon and the defendants, San Bernardino residents Jerome Walker and Milton Walker, then 22 and 21.

SAN BERNARDINO - A Superior Court judge has ruled that residents from the local mountains and northern portions of San Bernardino and Highland will not be among potential jurors in the upcoming trial for suspected Old Fire arsonist Rickie Lee Fowler.

In discussions Friday in San Bernardino Superior Court over a defense motion to exclude jurors from those areas, Judge Michael A. Smith acknowledged that residents in those areas may be "particularly more sensitive" to fire issues.

Lawyers grappled with the idea during court appearance for Fowler where discussions occurred about how best to exclude residents from the pool of potential jurors who may been evacuated, impacted or even lost a home during the devastating wildfire.

SAN BERNARDINO - Sara Cisneros had gotten off early at her job at San Manuel Indian Casino in August 2009 for a family celebration, and she was headed home to Redlands.

But on Cisneros' way home, a Ford F-150 pickup crossed into her traffic lanes on Orange Street, at the wash, and collided head-on into her Nissan Sentra. A 48-year-old Redlands resident and mother, she died at the scene.

The driver of the pickup, Ryan Christopher Wheatley, of Highland, was subsequently arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. Two years later, a jury found Wheatley was responsible for Cisneros' death.

A former Marine from Pomona, accused of embezzling $200,000 from a Palm Desert non-profit group that provides educational scholarships to other Marines, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Jason Patrick Hitt appeared for arraignment on the charges Wednesday before Judge Victoria E. Cameron at Larson Justice Center, in Indio, according to court records.

Hitt, 35, pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of embezzlement and forging documents, court records indicate. He returns to court Thursday.

The man charged in the killing of a High Desert couple at an abandoned military bunker in 2008 has been found to be mentally competent to stand trial.

Jurors returned the verdict Wednesday in the trial for Collin Lee McGlaughlin of West Covina after receiving the case for deliberation a day earlier, in Victorville Superior Court, according to court records.

McGlaughlin, 21, returns to court Jan.27. He's accused of shooting to death Christopher Cody Thompson, 18, and his 16-year-old girlfriend Bodhi Sherzer-Potter, following a party at the bunker near Helendale.

SAN BERNARDINO - The trial began Tuesday for two brothers accused of fatally beating a 63-year-old man after police say he held open a door for them at Jimmy's Food Market on the city's Westside.

Prosecutors and attorneys for Jerome Walker, 24, and Milton Walker, 23, argued several motions in San Bernardino Superior Court to decide whether some evidence would go before the jury.

The Walkers are charged with murder in the death of Nathan Macon last year.

The defense sought to allow Macon's police citations for being drunk in public be used at trial, as well as evidence of violent acts involving family members.

SAN BERNARDINO - Three San Bernardino County members of the Vagos motorcycle gang were arraigned Friday in connection with the drug and weapons raid connected on Thursday.

A fourth member from Oak Hills has a warrant for his arrest and remains at-large, while a fifth member from Ontario was arrested and remained uncharged as of Friday.

Scott Randall Rivera and Scott Randall Rivera, both of San Bernardino, and Andrew Eloy Lozano of Fontana appeared for arraignment, via a video link, in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Staff and wire reports
Posted: 10/07/2011 12:37:02 PM PDT

Federal prosecutors in California are ordering dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries - including one in Montclair - to shut down in 45 days and warning their owners and landlords they face criminal charges or seizure of their assets if they do not comply.

The state's four U.S. attorneys announced at a Sacramento news conference Friday that they have stepped up efforts to curtail both marijuana cultivation and retail sales of pot conducted under the cover of California's 15-year-old medical marijuana law.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner, who represents California's Central Valley, said not all of the thousands of storefront pot dispensaries thought to be operating in the state are being targeted.

Posted: 10/07/2011 06:16:20 PM PDT

The president of a Rancho Cucamonga company was sentenced last month to probation and fines for Worker's Compensation fraud.

Anthony Perry, president of Perry Roofing was ordered on Sept. 30 to pay $15,000 to the California Department of Insurance, and $670 in restitution to the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney's office started an investigation in August of last year after getting information that Perry was under reporting payroll and employees.

Investigators then served a search warrant at the business in February of 2010, according to a District Attorney's news release.

An investigation determined that Perry was paying an employee cash and misrepresenting the number of employees to his insurance company in order to get a lower premium, according to the release.

jannise.johnson@inlandnewspapers.com

Mike Cruz, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/07/2011 04:51:25 PM PDT

A man who says he is the son of Jim Morrison, the late front man for the band the Doors, is facing charges of robbery and ramming a police car during a chase last year in Ontario.

Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit and restraints on his wrists and ankles, Clifford Marston Morrison sat in the jury box of a Rancho Cucamonga courtroom on Friday, waiting for his case to be called.

With his shoulder-length hair, strong brow and scruffy red beard and moustache, Clifford Morrison catches attention.

By Rick Orlov Staff Writer
Created: 10/06/2011 06:00:16 PM PDT

The union representing Los Angeles County prosecutors won a major round this week in its battle with District Attorney Steve Cooley, with a tentative settlement granting it a permanent injunction and $575,000 in penalties.

The deal calls for the county to pay $125,000 to the Association for Deputy District Attorneys and $450,000 to Deputy District Attorney Marc Debbaudt, who had alleged retaliation for his union activities.

The settlement, still subject to Board of Supervisors' approval, also made permanent a temporary court injunction ordering Cooley to refrain from harassing or intimidating ADDA members based on their union membership.

By Mike Cruz, The (San Bernardino County) Sun
Posted: 10/06/2011 03:46:10 PM PDT

Hundreds of weapons, including an anti-tank gun and a rocket launcher, methamphetamine and cocaine were seized Thursday when several members of the Vagos motorcylce gang were arrested during a seven-county sweep across Southern California.

State agents say 52 search warrants and 12 arrest warrants were served Thursday, resulting in nine actual arrests and targeting the "upper echelon" of the Vagos. Five of the arrests occurred in San Bernardino County.

At a news conference at San Bernardino Police Department, law enforcement officials said the investigation started 18 months ago when they began looking into a narcotics trafficking ring.

That investigation grew to include other alleged crimes by Vagos members, such as solicitation of murder, receiving stolen property, auto theft, perjury, extortion, robbery and rape, state agents said.

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/06/2011 07:11:55 PM PDT

Senior state Assistant Attorney General Gary Schons will retire at the end of the month and will begin a new job at the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, officials from both offices said.

San Bernardino County Assistant District Attorney Jim Hackleman also is retiring. His last day is Friday.

Schons and Hackleman oversaw the prosecution of Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum and three former county officials in a sweeping corruption scandal tied to a $102 million legal settlement between the county and Burum's development consortium, Colonies Partners LP. In a joint prosecution, the District Attorney's and state Attorney General's offices allege the settlement was tainted by bribery and extortion.

Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/04/2011 03:56:03 PM PDT

State Attorney General Kamala Harris said Tuesday she left national settlement talks with lenders over potential mortgage and foreclosure violations because she doesn't expect a deal will provide enough compensation for troubled California homeowners.

"I do not believe that the total number of Californians who are in foreclosure would be eligible for relief," Harris said in a conference call with reporters.

Harris also said she was concerned that a deal would allow lenders to escape civil, or even criminal, penalties for alleged wrongdoing.

VICTORVILLE -- A pair of mental health experts may have concluded that a West Covina man accused of the execution-style slayings of a young High Desert couple at an abandoned military bunker is mentally competent to go trial for the killings, say lawyers.
But the decision about Collin Lee McGlaughlin's present mental competence won't be up to the experts.

A jury began hearing witness testimony Wednesday as a trial began in Victorville Superior Court to determine whether McGlaughlin is compentent to go trial for the 2008 deaths of Christopher Cody Thompson, 18, of Apple Valley and his 16-year-old girlfriend, Bodhisattva Sherzer-Potter of Helendale.

The jury will decide whether McGlaughlin is mentally competent now, not his state of mind when the crimes occurred.

But before any witnesses testified Wednesday, lawyers for both sides delivered their opening remarks. McGlaughlin is presumed competent, and it's up to the defense to prove otherwise.

Joe Nelson, The (San Bernardino County) Sun
Posted: 10/04/2011 01:59:35 PM PDT

Federal search warrants served at the home and business of Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum were unconstitutionally overbroad and vague, according to a motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Riverside.

Burum's attorney, Stephen G. Larson, is demanding that all of Burum's property seized during the Sept. 15 FBI and IRS raid immediately be returned to him.

The warrants were served at nine locations in San Bernardino and Riverside counties in connection with a sweeping corruption scandal involving allegations of bribery, extortion and fraud, according to the federal search warrant.

The allegations stem from a $102 million legal settlement between the county and Burum's development consortium, Colonies Partners LP, in November 2006.

By Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/04/2011 03:56:03 PM PDT

California Attorney General Kamala Harris held a conference call today to explain her decision to leave national settlement talks with lenders over potentially illegal mortgage and foreclosure practices.

In the call, Harris said the state is experiencing a renewed wave of foreclosures and that the dollar figures being discussed in negotiations would not be sufficient to provide relief to Californians at risk of foreclosure.

Harris first announced her withdrawal from settlement talks on Friday. Her leaving clears the way for California to press its own investigation of lending and foreclosure practices, which she said may lead to civil or even criminal filings against lenders.

Two co-defendants in the "Devil's Professor" methamphetamine trafficking case entered not-guilty pleas Tuesday to conspiracy charges.

Chelsea Marie Johnson, 34, and Eric Cortez, 31, both of Redlands, entered the pleas and denied all allegations at a formal arraignment before Judge Harold T. Wilson in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Both defendants face charges in connection with a methamphetamine trafficking ring allegedly run by Cal State San Bernardino professor Steve Kinzey.

Johnson and Cortez were ordered held on the charges after a preliminary hearing on Sept. 27. Judge Douglas Gericke ruled then that sufficient evidence was presented to hold over the defendants for trial.

Also on Tuesday, lawyer Sean O'Connor, who represents Johnson, sought a hearing to argue for a reduction in his client's bail. She is currently being held on $150,000 bail, according to the Sheriff's Department.

Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/03/2011 12:25:41 PM PDT

A federal investigation into the practices of two San Bernardino County tax service companies has resulted in one of the largest indictments issued for tax fraud, federal officials said.

The Fontana-based Old Quest Foundation Inc. and Rancho Cucamonga-based De la Fuente and Ramirez and Associates filed false federal income tax returns containing bogus claims for refunds that sought more than $250 million, officials said.

The IRS investigation, code named "Operation Stolen Treasures," resulted in 32 federal indictments that name a total of 55 defendants. Nearly half were arraigned in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.

VICTORVILLE - A jury will begin hearing evidence Wednesday in the mental competency trial for a West Covina man accused of the execution-style killings of a young man and woman in 2008 at an abandoned military bunker near Helendale.

Lawyers in the trial for Collin McGlaughlin spent Monday arguing pretrial motions, deciding whether some evidence could be used at trial and selecting a jury. Opening statements are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. followed by testimony Wednesday in Victorville Superior Court.

The issue before jurors is whether McGlaughlin has the necessary mental competency to go to trial again later where he will face murder charges - and the possible death penalty - in the shooting deaths of Christopher Cody Thompson, 18, of Apple Valley and his 16-year-old girlfriend, Bodhisattva "Bodhi" Sherzer-Potter of Helendale.

A Montclair man found guilty in July of sexually abusing his stepdaughter was sentenced Monday to 58 years in state prison.

Juan Trujillo Barajas, 40, was sentenced according to the terms recommended by the county Probation Department in West Valley Superior Court, in Rancho Cucamonga. He received credit for 582 days already served in county jail, and he must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before he can be considered for release.

The 16-year-old victim spoke at the sentencing hearing and asked the court for leniency, according to prosecutors.

Two Rialto men are back in court next month in the beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow on Opening Day at Dodger Stadium.

Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood appeared Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, where they are set to return Nov. 4 to schedule the date for a preliminary hearing, according to sports news web site ESPN.com.

At a preliminary hearing, a judge listens to witness testimony to determine if sufficient evidence exists to support the charges and hold over the defendants for trial.

Stow, 42, and a father of two, remains hospitalized after he was beaten in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium as fans left the Opening Day game.

Prosecutors have decided not to file charges against a Victorville grandmother and her friend, who were arrested last month after her 11-month-old grandson was found inside a hot car they drove to a wedding reception.

The decision not to file criminal charges against Maria Davila, 56, came Friday from prosecutors at the District Attorney's Office in Victorville.

"There was insufficient evidence to support the filing of charges," said Chris Lee, a District Attorney's spokesman. He could not say anything further about the case.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Davila and her friend, Margarita Simbana, 51, of Los Angeles, on Sept. 3 on suspicion of child cruelty after the little boy was plucked from a car seat inside the sweltering vehicle.

The outdoor temperature that day was about 97 degrees, and the grandmother had been entrusted with watching with the little boy, say sheriff's officials.

Davila and Simbana were attending a reception at the Social House in the 12100 block of Cottonwood Avenue. Deputies say the child's parents were also at the reception.

Lawyer James Terrell accompanied Davila and the child's mother, Alma Medina, on Wednesday while she said the incident was a miscommunication and that Davila did not know the child was placed in the car, according to a report in a High Desert newspaper.

Terrell did not return a phone call nor email requesting comment.

SAN BERNARDINO - A Superior Court judge denied a request Friday to dismiss the charges against three of nine alleged members and associates of the Pimps, Players, Hustlers and Gangsters street gang, who are accused of conspiring to kill two rivals.

Lawyers for Edward Jermaine Lair, Henry Duffy and Dearnaz Wilson argued their case in a motion before Judge Michael Smith in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Lawyer Stuart O'Melveny argued there was a lack of evidence showing that his client, Lair, was a participant in the alleged conspiracy.

Meanwhile, lawyers Andrew Haynal and Marjorie Barrios, who represent Duffy and Wilson, said information from a confidential informant - who told police he had smoked PCP that night - is unreliable.