Fight video OK'd for shooting case

Fayetteville prosecutor says footage shows gang activity

FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County prosecutors can use evidence of gang association and video of an altercation between gang members in this week's trial of a man accused of shooting and wounding a 14-year-old boy in Springdale last year, a judge ruled.

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Hector Torres Vega, 21, of Lowell is accused of shooting Joseph Garcia, who had stopped his bicycle at the corner of Crawford and Marilyn streets. Witnesses told police that a car drove up, and a man with a gun got out and approached Garcia, asked his gang affiliation, then shot him twice, according to prosecutors. Police said Vega was the man with the gun.

Garcia suffered wounds in his legs and left hand. Police found two .45-caliber shell casings at the scene.

The shooting came less than five minutes after Vega and Jose Yanez, 18, of Rogers were involved in an altercation with six rival gang members at a nearby convenience store on North Thompson Street, according to police. They said the rival gang members left the store on foot headed west, and Vega and Yanez left in a silver car, traveling the same direction.

Deputy prosecutor Charles Duell told Circuit Judge Joanna Taylor of Fayetteville on Thursday that the evidence is circumstantial but central to the case.

"It's about a gang shooting," Duell said. "That's what the very nature of this case is. It's a gang dispute."

Taylor agreed, saying that video of the convenience store fight and evidence of gang affiliation is relevant.

"He is advertising his membership in that gang," Taylor said of the shirt Vega was wearing in the video. "This type of dress makes these gang members readily identifiable to each other."

Police said Vega is an admitted member of the Wicked Brown Suspects, and they identified the rival gang members at the store as being associated with Termite Loco Savages. Vega's blue shirt in the video had "WBS" on front and "Suspects" and "479," the area code for Fayetteville, on the back.

Taylor said the direction of travel of those involved in the fight also is relevant because it shows that the fight and the shooting were close in time and proximity.

Vega's attorney, Mike Roberson, filed a motion last week asking the judge to prohibit evidence of gang association or activities from Vega's trial because they could prejudice the jury against him.

Roberson also filed a motion to exclude evidence of the fight. The motion argued that references to the fight would confuse jurors, and it said the state isn't alleging that Garcia was even at the convenience store when the fight occurred.

Roberson argued Thursday that the evidence of a fight had no bearing on a motive for the shooting and only proved that Vega was in the store and was involved in an altercation.

Prosecutors amended the charges against Vega on Thursday morning to attempted first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Vega originally was charged with attempted capital murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and engaging in a continuing criminal gang, organization or enterprise.

The trial is expected to begin Wednesday.

Yanez pleaded innocent last July to accomplice to attempted capital murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and engaging in a continuing criminal gang, organization or enterprise. He is awaiting trial.

Vega and Yanez are being held at the Washington County jail in lieu of $200,000 bond each.

State Desk on 07/10/2016

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