Murder conviction overturned in fatal 2004 shooting at Modesto park

The California Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a Modesto man who was charged with the fatal drive-by shooting of a 17-year-old girl in 2004.

Edgar Octavio Barajas, now 29, was convicted in 2011 of murder in the death of Ernestina “Tina” Tizoc, who was shot as she attended a Police Athletic League program at Oregon Park in south Modesto.

The state Supreme Court overturned Barjas’ conviction based on a 2015 decision that changed the law regarding accomplice testimony, according to a press release from the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s office.

A jury convicted Barajas and Jesus Manuel Rodriguez. Barajas, who was 16 at the time, was accused of firing a .22 caliber rifle out the window of a vehicle in retaliation against a rival gang.

At the time of the shooting, Tizoc was wearing a maroon blouse, similar to the red color associated with the Norteno gang. But the 17-year-old Johansen High School junior was not a gang member, authorities said.

Barajas reportedly confessed to investigators, but Superior Court Judge Nancy Ashley granted a last-minute defense motion to suppress the confession because of a violation regarding reading Barajas his rights, prosecutors said in the release. During the trial, other gang members testified about what happened the day of the shooting.

“In its decision (to overturn the conviction), the Supreme Court noted that California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office conceded in their briefs that there was insufficient corroboration of the accomplices’ testimony to support his conviction under new case law despite a 5th District Court of Appeal decision in 2016 that held otherwise,” the district attorney’s office said.. “The Supreme Court also directed the 5th District judges to enter a judgment of acquittal, preventing a retrial on murder charges.”

Upon his release from prison, Barajas will be deported, prosecutors said.

The conviction against Rodriguez stands; his confession was allowed at trial. He remains incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison.

District Attorney Birgit Fladager met with Tizoc’s mother, Manuela Ramirez, the release said. Ramirez asked for privacy for her family but issued a statement that says in part:

“No matter what happens, if he is released or not, he will always be my daughter’s murderer. No matter where he is, my daughter will be there. She did not know him before, but she knows him now as her murderer. If earthly justice failed to punish him, I take comfort in knowing that he cannot escape Divine Justice. “

This story was originally published June 30, 2018 at 1:11 PM.