Opinion ID: 3189192
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Events after the murders

Text: On the night of October 7, 1995, Endora Avila, defendant‟s stepdaughter and Rafael Avila‟s wife, was returning from a church revival when she saw Rafael‟s car “flying” across Yosemite Street in Madera. When Endora arrived home, Rafael was not there. Rafael came home later that night and “banged on the door like a cop.” He was “[n]ervous” and pulled on his hair. His pants were wet almost to his knees. Rafael removed his clothes and threw them in the trash. Later that night Endora‟s stepbrother, Little Pete, “bang[ed] on the door” and he and Rafael argued. Endora did not see Rafael the next day, and had only seen him once since that night for about a 15-minute period. Also on the night of October 7, 1995, during the 10:00 o‟clock news, Jesse Rangel, who was in Fresno, received a telephone call from Little Pete. Little Pete told Jesse he “got Juan.” Later that night, Jesse was awakened by a second call from Little Pete, who sounded drunk and was laughing. Little Pete said he had 5 killed “Juan,” and that defendant, “Richard, [and] Rafael” also were involved. Defendant then came on the line laughing and said he “put those motherfuckers on ice.” One night in October 1995, defendant gave Juan Ramirez, who was married to defendant‟s stepdaughter Deanna, a basket covered with bags and clothing and asked him to “do him the favor of throwing that away.” Defendant also said they “had resolved their problem.” When Ramirez disposed of the basket near a canal, he noticed it contained two weapons. He later showed police where the weapons were located. The weapons were a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun, and a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle. Ballistics testing revealed that the .380-caliber bullets found at the crime scene and in Avila‟s car had been fired from the same gun and “probably” had been fired from the .380-caliber handgun. All sixteen .22caliber casings found at the crime scene had been fired from the rifle. The rifle, or a similar weapon, had fired the .22-caliber bullets recovered from Uribe‟s and Durbin‟s bodies. The day after the murders, Jesse Rangel, defendant, and Little Pete paid a surprise visit to defendant‟s brother, Frank Rangel, Sr. (Frank Sr.), and his son, Frank Rangel, Jr. (Frank Jr.), in Fresno. Frank Jr. had not seen defendant and Little Pete for about seven years.4 During the visit, defendant told Frank Sr. that defendant and Little Pete “had went and done a shooting,” and told Frank Jr. “[t]hey went to the house and shot the house up.” Also during this visit, Little Pete described the shootings to Jesse, saying defendant had a .380-caliber handgun, Little Pete had a .22-caliber rifle, and Diaz had a .38-caliber handgun. “Rafael had dropped him off. They . . . walked to the house . . . [and] [h]e opened 4 Frank Jr. was granted use immunity for any action with respect to the case after October 7, 1995. 6 the door. . . . He went off in the house looking for Juan.” Diaz stayed outside across the street. Little Pete “shot Juan.” Chuck Durbin came out “from the side” and defendant “shot him in the head.” Defendant later gave the guns to his stepdaughter‟s husband Juan to dispose of them. During his visit to Fresno, defendant gave Frank Jr. a .38-caliber revolver and asked Frank Jr. to “hold this for me.” Frank Jr. hid it outside, and later showed law enforcement officers where the gun was hidden. The gun “matched” the .38-caliber bullets found at the crime scene. A few days after the murders, Erica Rangel, Jesse Rangel‟s wife, was in a motel room with defendant‟s wife Mary, defendant, Little Pete, and Jesse Rangel. Mary told defendant, “You‟re a murderer. And now my son is one, too.” Defendant did not respond. The prosecution introduced evidence of defendant‟s efforts to create an alibi. The prosecution introduced the testimony of Sanjeevider (Romi) Singh, who, at the time of the murders, was the boyfriend of defendant‟s stepdaughter, Carmina Garza, and owned a convenience store. Garza helped Singh manage the store. On October 8, 1995, defendant and Little Pete worked in Singh‟s store for about 45 minutes until about 10:20 p.m., where they were videotaped on the store security system. Garza mislabeled the tape October 7, 1995. While they were in Fresno visiting Frank Sr. and Frank Jr., Little Pete told Jesse Rangel he and defendant had made a video showing them working at the store, and that Singh was “supposed to switch the dates” on the tape so it looked like they were at the store mopping at the time of the murders. Little Pete made a similar but less detailed statement to Diaz. Defendant voluntarily spoke to police and his statement was played for the jury. He said that on October 7, 1995, the night of the murders, he and Little Pete left the barbecue to go to Romi Singh‟s convenience store. They arrived before 10:00 p.m., worked for 35 to 40 minutes in the store, and left sometime after 7 10:00 p.m. He agreed with the interviewing officer he would be “shock[ed]” to learn the videotape showing this activity was actually taped on October 8, 1995, and denied being in the store on that date. The prosecution also introduced evidence of defendant‟s flight. The parties stipulated defendant worked at FMC Corporation from August 11, 1980, to October 16, 1995, when he voluntarily terminated his employment for personal reasons, and that defendant did not work from October 10 to October 15, 1995. Jerry Smith, who worked with defendant, testified that defendant had worked on Monday, October 9, 1995, the first Monday after the murders, but did not work after that date. On about October 16, 1995, defendant called Smith and asked for a one-year leave of absence. Smith told defendant he would refer the matter to the plant supervisor because he could not authorize the time off.