Police Files in Slaying Turned Over to Defense

A Santa Barbara County judge told prosecutors Friday to turn over police reports and other documents used to build a case against convicted killer Efren Cruz of Oxnard.

The 26-year-old Army veteran was found guilty of murder, attempted murder and other charges for gunning down two men during a gang-related melee in a downtown Santa Barbara parking garage four years ago.

But defense lawyers contend Cruz is innocent and are fighting for his release from state prison.

As evidence, they point to a secretly taped jailhouse confession by Oxnard gang member Gerardo Reyes, who on the tape admitted wielding the murder weapon and letting his cousin, Cruz, take the fall.

The confession was obtained last year by Ventura County prosecutors, who concluded Reyes was the actual killer.

But Santa Barbara County prosecutors maintain they put the right man behind bars and are contesting Cruz’s petition to overturn his conviction. They say Reyes has denied being the shooter.

The disputed confession will be the focus of a June 4 hearing before Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa.

In preparation, defense attorneys Philip Dunn and Kevin DeNoce asked Ochoa during a court hearing Friday to force prosecutors to turn over old police reports and other evidence that could corroborate Reyes’ taped confession.

“I think it is an issue of fundamental fairness,” Dunn argued at the hearing. “It seems to me it is incumbent on them to let us see all the evidence to see if it corroborates our position.”

Deputy Dist. Attys. Gerald Franklin and Hilary Dozer balked at the expansive discovery request, however. Franklin told Ochoa the defense is clearly entitled to some evidence, but should not be allowed to retry the entire case.

Dozer noted that there are six volumes of police notes, reports and other materials, and he questioned why the defense had not obtained copies of those materials from Cruz’s original trial attorney.

“I am just stunned defense counsel can’t get those,” Dozer said.

But Dunn said Cruz’s former lawyer, Joe Lax, destroyed the file.

“Let me just say, we were stunned too,” he said.

Ochoa directed the prosecution to make available police reports prepared before and during Cruz’s trial. And he urged both sides to disclose any new reports well before next month’s hearing.

After the hearing, Dozer set a white cardboard box crammed with recent investigative reports on the defense counsel table, adding: “This is everything.”

Outside the courtroom, DeNoce and Dunn said they were pleased with the judge’s order. The two lawyers took over the defense case in late April after Cruz decided to replace appellate attorney Leonard Chaitin.

Cruz was arrested in January 1997 after the shooting. The incident occurred after two groups of young men--some from Oxnard and Santa Barbara gangs--exchanged words inside a State Street bar.

The taunts continued as the groups walked into a nearby parking garage. Someone pulled a gun. Shots rang out. And Michael Torres, a 23-year-old Santa Barbara resident, was killed after being hit in the head.

Santa Ynez resident James Miranda, 21, suffered a neck wound but recovered.

Police searched the garage and found a chrome .38-caliber revolver on the second floor. They also found Efren Cruz, whose friends from Oxnard had fled the scene.

Forensic tests later revealed Cruz had gunpowder residue on his hands, and a driver leaving the garage later identified him as the shooter.

Now, Dunn, DeNoce and their investigator, Len Newcomb, are aggressively pursuing witnesses and reviewing trial transcripts to prove it was Reyes--not Cruz--who pulled the trigger.

They expect next month’s hearing to last several days.

“We are absolutely convinced this man is innocent,” Dunn said Friday. “I can’t help but get a little passionate about that.”