Opinion ID: 4553375
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Richard Merla’s Statement

Text: Two years after Robert Lara was shot and killed in retaliation for killing a Bandidos member, Richard Merla was arrested for killing another man. While he was in jail, Merla confessed to killing Lara in 2002 and implicated Portillo in Lara’s murder. On cross-examination, Portillo’s counsel attacked Merla’s credibility, suggesting that he implicated Portillo only because he was angry at him for expelling him from the Bandidos. Portillo also suggested that Merla’s memory was unreliable and that there were inconsistencies between his in-court testimony and his prison confession. During the government’s redirect of Merla, the court allowed the government to introduce Merla’s confession as a prior consistent statement. In his one-page confession, Merla stated that “[t]he murder of Robert Lara was planned and executed by Chapter President John Portillo of the Southwest Chapter of Bandidos.”