.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........Darian Bashir, accused in the fatal shooting of a UNM student-athlete earlier this month, appears in state District Court on May 15. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)Copyright © 2019 Albuquerque JournalThe death of a 23-year-old University of New Mexico baseball player earlier this month spurred policing initiatives and discussions of reforms within the criminal justice system, as state and local officials struggle to get a handle on violent crime in the city.Both Mayor Tim Keller and 2nd Judicial District Attorney Raúl Torrez have referred to the suspected shooter – Darian Bashir – as an example of someone who should not have been let out of jail in prior cases. Jackson WellerSome in the legal community are pointing out that one of the main reasons 23-year-old … [Read more...] about ‘Mistakes were made’ in earlier Bashir case
Courts
San Diego gang member convicted in 2 separate killings
A gang member was convicted Thursday of gunning down two young men in about a month’s span in different parts of San Diego in 2016.Deshaun Prescott, 28, was found guilty of the murders of Derion Elias White, 23, in East Village, and Greggory Davis, 18, in the O’Farrell neighborhood of southeastern San Diego.Prescott is to be sentenced on July 19.Police found White shot in the upper body just after midnight on June 29, 2016, near 17th Street and Island Avenue. He was targeted while sitting in Davis was killed on Aug. 2, 2016, when either Prescott, a second unidentified man, or both, opened fire on a group of people near the intersection of 61st and Alderley streets about 5:40 p.m., striking Davis and then-25-year-old Avery Ealy, who survived with a leg wound, according to testimony.Jurors acquitted Prescott of the attempted murder of Ealy, along with an assault with a semi-automatic firearm count.Deputy District Attorney John Dunlap alleged that gang rivalries were behind … [Read more...] about San Diego gang member convicted in 2 separate killings
Closing arguments next week in McStay family murder case
More than four months after jurors heard opening statements, they will hear closing arguments next week in the death-penalty trial of the man accused of killing the McStay family of Fallbrook in 2010, the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office said Thursday, Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday morning in the trial of Charles “Chase” Merritt, who has pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder. Merritt, now 62, is accused of killing his business associate, 40-year-old Joseph McStay, and McStay’s family -- wife Summer, 43, and sons Gianni, 4 and Joey Jr., 3. The case has been heard in San Bernardino Superior Court, the county where the family’s remains were found in shallow graves in late 2013. Opening statements were Jan. 7. The McStay family was last heard from on Feb. 4, 2010, a few months after they moved from San Clemente to Fallbrook. Their whereabouts were a mystery until November 2013, when an off-road motorcyclist found partial remains … [Read more...] about Closing arguments next week in McStay family murder case
Calif. AG: $2M mortgage fraud scheme draws 13-year sentence
A San Diego judge on Thursday sentenced a principal player in a $2 million mortgage fraud scheme that involved using a fake insurance company and false bankruptcy filings. Defendant Andrew Valles, 41, was sentenced to 13 years in state prison, and ordered to pay restitution of more than $2.3 million, the state Attorney General’s Office said. Co-defendant, Arnold Millman, 73, has already been sentenced to three years and four months in prison. “These con artists stole the life savings of decent Californians who thought they were making a smart decision for their homes and their families,” Attorney General Becerra said in a news release. In February 2018, a San Diego grand jury indicted Valles, Millman and two others in what the Attorney General’s Office said was a fraud scheme that had victimized 40 people who had sought mortgage help.A third co-defendant, Jemal Lilly, 49, has since pleaded guilty and is set to be sentenced in September. The status of the case … [Read more...] about Calif. AG: $2M mortgage fraud scheme draws 13-year sentence
Former Homeland Security agent pleads guilty in drug money theft
A former Homeland Security Investigations agent accused of pulling over drug money smuggling suspects and stealing the dirty cash has pleaded guilty to 17 charges in the wide-ranging investigation.The change of plea, entered April 29, comes a week before Tyrone Cedric Duren was set to begin trial in San Diego federal court.Duren, who started his law enforcement career as a California Highway Patrol officer, switched to HSI, where he was assigned to a squad that investigated the smuggling of drug proceeds into Mexico. Beginning in 2010, Duren said he stopped bulk cash smugglers and seized the drug proceeds for himself, according to the plea agreement. “I committed these offenses because I was experiencing financial pressures from the severe downturn in the real estate market and because my salary decreased substantially from when I was a member of the California Highway Patrol to when I transferred to HSI,” he admitted, according to court records.The investigation kicked off … [Read more...] about Former Homeland Security agent pleads guilty in drug money theft