FORT SMITH -- The second of four reported gang members charged with murder in the slaying of a rival gang member is scheduled to go on trial today in Sebastian County Circuit Court.
Police say Alberto Chavez, 19, who is charged with first-degree murder and seven counts of committing a terroristic act, was the man who fired the shot Jan. 14 that killed Justin Lopez. Lopez, 18, and a friend occupied the trailer when Chavez and another man riddled it with 40 bullets fired from assault-style rifles, according to reports.
Chavez was identified as the shooter earlier this month during the trial of co-defendant Bryan Porras, 20, who was convicted of first-degree murder and seven counts of committing a terroristic act at the end of a three-day trial.
Porras was sentenced to 63 years in prison for the murder, lesser sentences for the terroristic act counts and to another 34 years -- to run consecutively with the murder and terroristic act sentences -- for violating conditions of suspended sentences on five felony drug charges for which he was convicted last year.
The prosecution in Chavez's trial is expected to present the same evidence to jurors that was heard in Porras' trial.
Testimony during Porras' trial identified Chavez as firing an AR-15 style rifle into the trailer while Porras shot at the trailer with an AK-47 style rifle. Lopez died from a single gunshot wound in the back of the head.
Jennifer Floyd, a firearms and tool mark examiner with the state Crime Laboratory, testified that a fragment of the bullet removed from Lopez's head during an autopsy was fired from the AR-15 style rifle.
One of the other gang members, 17-year-old Jorge Chirinos, who also is charged in the case, testified during Porras' trial that the four were looking for Lopez because of a slight that his gang, the Clout Boys, made against the Slanga 96 gang, of which Porras, Chavez, Chirinos and 20-year-old Ryan Oxford were members.
Chirinos testified during the trial that the Slangas and the Clout Boys were enemies.
Chirinos testified that Porras drove the four to a wedding at the Fort Smith Convention Center on the night of Jan. 14 seeking information about Lopez's whereabouts. While Porras questioned one of the guests, Chavez questioned another, Chirinos testified.
They learned that Lopez was at the trailer in the backyard at 2315 N. Ninth St., the home of Lopez's friend Trey Miller. According to testimony in the trial, the trailer was a hangout for Miller, Lopez and their friends and from where Lopez sometimes sold marijuana.
Porras drove his car with the four gang members into the alley behind Miller's yard and removed the two rifles hidden under a seat, according to testimony.
Porras crept into the yard far enough to see that there were people in the trailer. He then ran back into the alley yelling "shoot, shoot," and the gunfire started.
Crime scene photos presented at Porras' trial showed a cluster of small, numbered cards where investigators marked the locations of the many spent rifle shell casings they found at the scene.
Chirinos said at the trial that if he testified truthfully in the trials of his co-defendants, he would receive leniency on his sentence. He is scheduled to go on trial Jan. 8.
Oxford, who also is charged with first-degree murder and seven counts of committing a terroristic act, is scheduled to go on trial Dec. 18, according to court records.
Metro on 11/27/2017