OGDEN — Sarah Valencia began to sob on the witness stand Thursday as she recalled the day her friend, Sabrina Prieto, was killed.
It was Aug. 5, 2007, and the two women had just emerged from an Ogden home where friends were celebrating a wedding. Then a sport utility vehicle rolled slowly along 1050 North, Valencia testified, and a man began to shoot at them from the passenger side window.
Valencia, 24, said she grabbed Prieto's arm and ran for the house, but she couldn't hold on to the 22-year-old.
"When I looked over, I seen her fall," Valencia said, breaking into tears. "I thought maybe she had tripped. She didn't trip. She had got shot."
Prieto and Resendo Nava Nevarez, 29, both died in what prosecutors told jurors was a gang-related shooting carried out by Riqo Mariano Perea. Two other partygoers — Richard Lee Esquival, 26, and Keri Garcia, 24 — were wounded in the incident.
Perea went on trial Thursday on two counts of aggravated murder and two counts of attempted murder, all first-degree felonies, under heightened security in 2nd District Court.
Three Weber County sheriff's deputies brought the 22-year-old defendant into a courtroom whose gallery was divided down the middle by yellow police tape — an effort to keep his family and the families of the victims separated. A fourth deputy prevented anyone from entering the courtroom once the trial began.
The measures are aimed at preventing a violent incident like the brawl that took place inside a courthouse elevator following a January 2008 hearing in the case. Two women suffered minor injuries in the melee.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys told jurors in their opening statements that the August 2007 drive-by shooting was rooted in animosity between two rival gangs. Esquival and Garcia also testified that shortly before the fatal shootings, they heard an argument in front of the home between several people.
"I heard a man say 'This is get-back for Ogden Trece' and he fired two shots," said Esquival, who is currently in jail for failing to appear in court in another case.
Esquival said, upon hearing the gunfire, he ran to the front yard of the home to check on his cousin, Nevarez, and saw most of the people there running into the home. He said a group of people in front of the home crossed the street, got into an SUV and began to drive away.
"They just let loose," he said, describing the shooting that left him with bullet fragments in his shoulder.
"I saw the first shot and I got down," Esquival said. "It felt like I got hit by a paintball … then my finger went in the (bullet) hole and I was like 'OK, I'm shot.' "
Prosecutor Chris Shaw told jurors that Perea fired 10 shots into a group of up to 20 people. Eight of those shots were aimed chest-high, Shaw said, in a "lethal zone."
Perea admitted to the shooting during an interview with Ogden police, according to Shaw.
" 'I just did it,' he said," Shaw told jurors, adding that the defendant told police he was the only person in the SUV with a gun.
But defense attorney Sharon Sipes countered that any admission by Perea was motivated by his fear of fellow gang members. She added that witnesses to the shooting have offered inconsistent accounts of the incident in hopes of avoiding reprisals.
"These witnesses were afraid in 2007, and they're afraid today," Sipes said, noting that those who will take the stand "hope that what they say is going to protect their family."
Sipes also told the jury that an expert witness for Perea will testify that it is "impossible for those victims to be killed and injured by shots fired from that SUV." She pointed out that Perea's vehicle was in the middle of the street when the shots were allegedly fired, yet all of the .22-caliber shell casings were recovered from the front lawn of the home where the party was taking place.
Prosecutors had originally intended to seek the death penalty for Perea, but decided last week not to proceed with a capital case. They have not offered any explanation due to a gag order issued by Judge Ernie Jones barring attorneys from discussing the case. The trial is scheduled to continue through April 2.
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