The convictions of two men sentenced to life without parole for a Midway shooting that killed a teen-ager have been overturned by an appellate court panel.
The state panel ruled that jurors should not have been allowed to hear gang-related evidence during the trial of Angel Garcia and Armando Alvarado.
The duo were found guilty in the Nov. 25, 2020, shooting death of Eduardo Salguero, 18, in what prosecutors said was a robbery gone wrong.
According to a ruling issued Thursday from the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Salguero sought to purchase a ghost gun and drove to meet with the sellers in a parking lot behind the Vons supermarket on Midway Drive.
Salguero and his friend arrived in a car, at which point the defendants allegedly entered the vehicle and demanded money at gunpoint. Salguero was shot in the back while behind the wheel of the car, which ended up crashing into a retaining wall. Salguero’s friend ran from the scene.
Cell phone evidence related to the gun sale, DNA evidence on items found in Salguero’s car, and statements made during an undercover jail operation tied the defendants to the killing, according to the appellate court ruling.
Garcia and Alvarado were convicted of murder, attempted murder and a special-circumstance allegation of committing the murder in the commission of a robbery, among other crimes.
A representative for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a query about prosecutors retrying the case.
The appellate panel’s ruling states the jury heard testimony that the defendants were gang members. The justices, though, determined that the evidence was not required to prove their involvement in the shooting and robbery.
Instead, they ruled the inclusion of the gang evidence harmed the credibility of the defendants, who claimed that Salguero’s friend pulled out a realistic-looking BB gun during the hold-up.
The appellate panel wrote the gang evidence “was inflammatory and prejudicial because it informed jurors that appellants belonged to a gang whose primary purpose was to commit violent crimes.”
