City News Service
MURRIETA, Calif. (KESQ) – A jury was seated Wednesday for the trial of two documented Beaumont gang members accused of gunning down a man during a robbery at the home of a known marijuana dealer, whose mother was also wounded in the attack.
Roberto Armando Gutierrez, 33, and Adam Anthony Garcia, 21, allegedly killed Leo Miguel DeLara in 2020.
Both defendants are charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, burglary and two counts of robbery, as well as special circumstance allegations of killing for the benefit of a criminal street gang and perpetrating murder in the course of a robbery, along with sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
After a week of screening prospects, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jeff Zimel on Wednesday swore in a panel to hear the case at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta. The prosecution and defense delivered opening statements before the judge released the jury for the week. Prosecutors are slated to begin calling witnesses on Monday.
Each defendant is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center.
According to a trial brief filed by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, Gutierrez and Garcia intended to rob a man named Benjamin Silvey because they knew he had a pound or more of cannabis at his mother’s house in the 100 block of Myrl Drive, near Edgar Avenue, from which he sold cannabis products.
Despite being childhood friends, Gutierrez and Silvey turned adversarial after the latter adamantly refused to join the South Side Beaumont (SBB) gang, with which the defendant had been long affiliated, prosecutors said.
Gutierrez had pushed Silvey to join, believing that “Benjamin’s (successful marijuana) business would further SBB’s drug enterprise,” according to the brief.
Silvey at one point complained to one of the gang leaders about Gutierrez, alleging the defendant had stolen undisclosed items from him. With their friendship dissolved, Gutierrez allegedly conspired with Garcia to rob the victim at the Myrl Drive residence, according to the prosecution.
Unbeknownst to the defendants, when they went there shortly before 9 p.m. on March 18, 2020, Silvey was gone, with only his mom, identified in court documents as “T.S.,” and her close friend, DeLara, going in and out of the single-story house to pack and haul items in preparation for her move to another property, the brief said.
As T.S. was outside near her vehicle, the defendants allegedly burst into the house, where DeLara was in the living room gathering things, prosecutors said.
T.S. ran into the home and heard gunfire.
“Not realizing in that moment she had been shot, T.S. walked into the living room when she heard another `pop,”’ according to the narrative. “She then saw Leo DeLara slumped in the bean bag chair with a gunshot to his face.”
The distraught woman summoned police and paramedics, but “DeLara stopped breathing a few minutes before officers arrived,” the brief said.
The victim was unable to get a clear look at the robbers’ faces because they were wearing hoodie jackets pulled up to conceal their identities.
T.S. suffered a gunshot that blew away the lower end of her left ear, which she didn’t realize until after paramedics reached the house and noticed her bleeding, according to the prosecution. She ultimately recovered from the wound.
“Two 9mm bullet casings were located within the residence, one in the living room and one on the floor of the nearest bedroom,” court papers stated. “The bedroom appeared to have been ransacked. Officers found more than one pound of marijuana, along with packaging, vape cartridges, apparent edible THC items and other indications that the room may have been used for selling marijuana.”
Although the robbers’ sedan was captured via a neighbor’s security surveillance video camera system, the plate information was unreadable, and detectives spent the ensuing two years gathering evidence that finally pointed to Gutierrez and Garcia as the alleged home invaders. Social media posts by police helped in eliciting information from witnesses.
The defendants were arrested in June 2022. The brief said they acknowledged breaking into the house but denied being the individual who opened fire on DeLara and T.S.
Court records show Gutierrez has prior convictions for auto theft, possession of controlled substances for sale and presenting false identification to law enforcement. Garcia has no documented priors in Riverside County.
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