Testimony underway in murder trial for 6 defendants in Modesto gang attack

A police officer on Friday testified about a 2013 candlelight vigil in north Modesto to remember two slain Norteño gang members. Those victims were gunned down not far from where the vigil was held in the 2400 block of Vera Cruz Drive.

On that same block four days after the vigil, 20-year-old Erick Gomez was killed. Prosecutors say the killing was motivated by ongoing violence between Sureño and Norteño street gangs.

“It had been a hotbed for gang violence,” Officer Mathew McMahon said about the Vera Cruz Drive neighborhood.

Testimony is underway in a trial for six defendants accused of murder in Gomez’s death. Authorities say Gomez, a Norteño gang member, was attacked by a group of rival Sureños. He was stabbed and shot several times.

McMahon was a member of the Modesto police Street Gang Unit on Feb.10, 2013, when he and other gang officers conducted surveillance at the vigil. It was the one-year anniversary of the deaths of Rolando Luna, 15, and Andrew Ensey, 19.

Robbie Blackwell and Nicholas Spangler are charged with murder in the deaths of Luna and Ensey. Blackwell and Spangler are scheduled to stand trial Feb.3.

McMahon told the jury that the Street Gang Unit decided to monitor the vigil on Vera Cruz Drive because the anniversary of a gang member’s death could produce “raw emotions” and incite violence.

The officers drove up in their unmarked, dark-blue patrol cars with tinted windows that allow the gang unit to work without drawing too much attention. The Ford Crown Victorias, however, are well-known among some, which earned the police cars the nickname “The Blue Dragons” in west Modesto.

McMahon said they initially tried to approach the vigil covertly. They spotted about 50 to 60 people gathered outside one of the two-story apartment buildings on Vera Cruz. The officer testified it appeared about half of the people were Norteños, wearing predominantly red clothing. Others had gang tattoos.

At the vigil, McMahon spotted a silver Pontiac sedan that appeared to match the description of a getaway car in a west Modesto gang-related shooting a couple of months earlier. On Dec. 1, 2012, a 19-year-old man was critically wounded outside Alex and Son’s Market on Martin Luther King Drive, near Vine Street.

McMahon testified that the victim, a Sureño, was shot in the head but survived the attack. Investigators believed the shooting was carried out by Norteños. Nobody was in the parked silver car at the vigil, and arrests had already been made in connection with the west Modesto shooting.

Because of the potential for gang retaliation at the vigil, McMahon and his fellow officers got out and stood by their vehicles as they continued to monitor it.

“We were making our presence known to prevent any type of violence,” McMahon told the jurors.

About an hour later, most of the vigil attendees left. The officers walked up to the now-empty carport in the apartment building. McMahon said they found two cans of spray paint, markers and candles. On the carport wall was gang graffiti.

The graffiti included “187 CLS,” which is the police code for homicide and the acronym for a Sureño gang in the same neighborhood. McMahon testified that the graffiti was a public threat of violence by Norteños against Sureños.

He said in court that the rival gangs have members who, in several areas throughout Modesto, live in the same neighborhoods. Those areas typically have a lot of reported gang violence, according to McMahon.

A criminal grand jury indictment alleges that the defendants were involved in the Feb. 14, 2013, attack on Gomez. The document claims the Sureño gang members, armed with knives and at least one gun, roamed the area in search of rival Norteños.

The defendants yelled Sureño gang challenges while stabbing Gomez, according to the filed indictment. Gomez then was shot several times.

Those indicted are Nancy Rodriguez, Jeanette Robles, Elida Carranza, Jenna Cheyenne Sebourn, Dalia Mendoza, Lisandro Mendoza, Jesse James Sebourn, Michael Terrill Sebourn and Giovani Barocio.

The six defendants also are charged with criminal conspiracy and enhancements saying they committed the murder for the benefit of the Sureño street gang and used a firearm, which could lengthen their sentences if convicted.

Barocio, the suspected gunman, remains a fugitive. Robles’ mental competency has come into question and she will be prosecuted separately. Dalia Mendoza also is being prosecuted separately.

Testimony in the trial was expected to continue Monday in Stanislaus Superior Court. The trial is being held in a former federal bankruptcy courtroom in downtown Modesto to allow more space for the increased amount of defendants, attorneys and bailiffs.

This story was originally published November 7, 2014 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Testimony underway in murder trial for 6 defendants in Modesto gang attack."