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A 41-year-old alleged gang member was acquitted Monday of two counts of murder stemming from the shooting deaths of two cousins in Koreatown.
The eight-woman, four-man jury spent less than two hours deliberating before finding Roberto Menjivar not guilty of the June 1, 2015, killings of Eleazar Lico, 20, and his cousin, Aurelio Lico, 24.
Alleged gunman Jonathan Roberto Orozco was also charged with two counts of murder and a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders. Though he is now 18, Orozco was a juvenile at the time of his arrest. Orozco was not tried with Menjivar, and information on the status of charges against him was not immediately available from the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors alleged the two defendants had robbed Aurelio Lico, and the two cousins went after them to get the goods back.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Song told the jury a fight that ensued ended when Orozco ran into Menjivar’s apartment and grabbed a gun.
“When he came down, he followed Roberto Menjivar’s order to shoot,” Song said, recalling a witness who testified that Menjivar yelled, “Shoot him, shoot him.”
The prosecutor urged the panel, “Don’t let him get away with it.”
Defense attorney Michael Enger disputed allegations that Menjivar was a gang member and said the victims were engaged in “an act of thuggery.”
Enger said it was a “big tragedy” that the two young men had lost their lives, but told jurors that Menjivar and Orozco didn’t rob anyone. They had been running an errand and were attacked by the two cousins and some other men at random.
“There were three or four people surrounding Mr. Menjivar, beating him,” Enger said during his closing argument.
Mr. Menjivar told Jonathan to “get in the house,” according to the defense attorney.
“This gang evidence is just an attempt to dirty up Mr. Menjivar,” Enger told jurors, adding that his client had “absolutely no record” and alleging police created a gang record to support the murder charges.
“His only lies were to protect Jonathan,” Enger said. “Jonathan on his own, an individual act, got a gun and started shooting.”
The defense attorney acknowledged that his client tried to cover up the shooting but said that didn’t amount to abetting the killings.
On rebuttal, Song said Menjivar “unleashed” Orozco, who grabbed a .38- caliber handgun and fired three times with “intent to kill.”
As for the gang record, Song said, “The police didn’t make him a gang member. Mr. Menjivar made himself a gang member.”
Song said Menjivar had the side of his head tattooed with a gang insignia and a piece of paper was found in his apartment with gang references.
“When he lies … he’s downplaying his own (gang) membership … he’s giving the best version of what could have possibly happened. That’s what gang members do for each other,” Song said.
“He’s part and parcel of this murder, that’s why he’s lying,” Song told the jury.
Jurors also found Menjivar not guilty of a lesser count of involuntary manslaughter.
—City News Service
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