Hollister
– Two Hollister teenagers accused of murder appeared in court
under heightened security Wednesday to set a further discovery
review and a motion hearing to consolidate their cases.
Hollister – Two Hollister teenagers accused of murder appeared in court under heightened security Wednesday to set a further discovery review and a motion hearing to consolidate their cases.
Gonzalo Munguia, 18, and Emilio Roman, 17, pleaded not guilty to charges that they ran over and killed 18-year-old Daniel Gallegos following what police called a gang-related altercation on July 10, 2006. The case has been slowed by procedural issues.
Roman will be in court Jan. 10 for a discovery review, in which the prosecution is required to hand over to defense attorneys further evidence pertaining to its case against the teen suspect. Roman’s attorney, Greg LaForge, said there is information in the case against his client that has yet to be released.
“It’s been six months and there’s still stuff they haven’t given us,” LaForge said.
In court, LaForge requested the proceedings move forward.
“(Roman is) just sitting in Juvenile Hall and nothing’s happening,” LaForge told San Benito County Superior Court Judge Steven Sanders.
San Benito County District Attorney-Elect Candice Hooper said the Hollister Police Department has yet to file the reports that will provide the prosecution’s evidence that Roman and Munguia committed the crime in affiliation with the Sureño street gang. Without that evidence, the District Attorney’s Office would not be able prosecute Munguia for capital murder, which can carry the death penalty. Hooper said she believes staffing shortages within the police department delayed release of the reports to her office.
Both Roman and Munguia will be in court Jan. 22 for a motion to consolidate, in which the prosecution will ask the court to combine their cases into one. The prosecution has argued that the crimes charged in both cases are “based upon mutual action, common facts, and common evidence,” according to court documents.
But LaForge said he will oppose the motion, claiming his client was not in the car that ran over Gallegos.
LaForge sought the removal of Sanders as judge in Roman’s case late last year. Prosecutor Stephen Wagner then asked for San Benito County Superior Court Judge Harry Tobias to be removed from the case. An outside judge will likely hear the case.
If the cases remain on schedule, the prosecution is set to begin its preliminary examination of Munguia and Roman on Feb. 26. In a preliminary examination, the prosecution must convince the court that there is enough evidence to go to trial.
According to court documents, Gallegos and his 16-year-old brother were walking in the 200 block of Hillcrest in Hollister shortly before midnight July 10, 2006, when two men drove up behind them in a late-model Ford sedan. The younger Gallegos said Munguia and Roman got out of the car and walked toward them wielding a crowbar and a beer bottle.
After a fight between Munguia and Roman and the Gallegos brothers, Munguia and Roman got back into the car and ran over Daniel Gallegos with the vehicle, then fled, according to the court documents.
However, LaForge said he has evidence that will prove Roman was not in the car when Gallegos was run over.
Gallegos was airlifted to San Jose Regional Hospital, according to court documents. He was pronounced dead July 11.
Roman was arrested July 12. Munguia was arrested in Oklahoma in late July by agents from the U.S. Marshals Service and several Oklahoma law enforcement agencies, according to the Hollister Police Department.
Munguia is being held at the San Benito County Jail pending trial. Roman is being held at the San Benito County Juvenile Hall.
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335, or mv*********@fr***********.com.
