Raymond “Raymo” Gutierrez, 31, and Alvaro “Tito” Saldana, 26, are facing first-degree murder charges with gang enhancements in the death of 26-year-old Roger Villanueva on May 25, 2008.
Villanueva was shot to death in the backyard of an Angelus Street home during a memorial barbecue to Moses Rodriguez, who was murdered in Turlock in 2006.
The final witness called by Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorney Thomas Brennan was Froilan Mariscal, an investigator for the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office, who testified about the two defendants’ history with the Norteno street gang and their possible motives for the fatal shooting.
According to the prosecution, the two men were angry with Villanueva because he came to the aid of another man at a wedding reception in Hilmar. That man, identified by the prosecution as Miguel Perez, was considered a “degenerate”by the gang, in part because he sang a rap song with lyrics that insulted the wife of a Norteno gang member insinuating she was unfaithful while her husband was in prison.
The prosecution contends this rap song incited a fight that turned into a melee of wedding guests and attendants, including the victim and the two accused.
During the melee Villanueva came to the aid of Perez and during the process struck Saldana, a taboo act of violence among the gang.
“Fighting another gang member is considered a direct act of treason in the gang,” Mariscal said during his testimony.
The prosecution claims that this encounter created bad feelings between the men and that Gutierrez and Saldana went to the barbecue with the specific purpose of exacting revenge on Villanueva.
Mariscal testified that because Saldana was disrespected by Villanueva in front of a large crowd, he had to respond in kind.
“They have to respond with violence to prove themselves and regain their status as a person to fear,” Mariscal said.
