By Citlalli Florez
(Editor’s note: Production problems delayed the story below, which is from Wednesday. Vanguard coverage includes daily updates on this story.)
WOODLAND, CA – During the Wednesday afternoon retrial here in Yolo County Superior Court of Justin Gonzalez for murder—he has already been convicted, under the former felony to murder rule—witnesses had difficulty identifying Gonzalez at the scene of the stabbing.
A private hearing with testimony also revealed one witness had inconsistencies in his story; he stated he withheld information from the police when being questioned as a witness in 2016.
Officer Rudolfo Godinez was employed as a police officer by the Woodland Police Department. His was the first vehicle to respond to the incident. He noticed a male victim lying on the staircase with multiple stab wounds when he arrived.
There were multiple people in the general area trying to assist the man known as Ronald “Tony” Antonio. No one was giving Antonio first aid at the time so his body was moved off of the stairs on a level surface in an attempt to give him first aid, the officer said.
Officer Godinez said he sectioned off the area with crime scene tape and located witnesses. He located Raquel Ponce and he was advised that she had information and took a statement from her.
Raquel allegedly identified Alexis Velasquez (subsequently convicted of murder of Antonio), Vanessa Ramos, Cynthia Tellos and Yair Sanchez Calderon. When Ponce was shown Gonzalez, she couldn’t identify him as being part of the stabbing.
Deputy District Attorney Robin Johnson asked about whether Ponce talked about teen males wearing white t-shirts. Officer Godinez stated that “yes, she did.”
The next witness was Sergio Pimentel. He is employed at the Yolo County probation department and was assigned as a detective during the time of the incident. He was called to the Casa Del Sol Mobile Home Park because he was advised there was a stabbing.
Prior to the incident, he said he was already familiar with Velasquez and Gonzalez. Pimentel took part in the investigation, conducted interviews, viewed photographs, and saw surveillance footage captured the night of the stabbing.
Pimentel interviewed Christian Hernandez and was familiar with where he lived in the trailer park. Pimentel remembers showing him a pack of photographs of people possibly present at the scene, so that they may be identified. .
Pimentel interviewed Ponce three times, noting, “She saw Mr. Gonzalez placing Mr. Antonio into a rear bear hug.” Ponce told Pimentel she thought she was hearing screams and got out of her trailer to get her mail. When outside, she told the officer she saw a female and two males.
Pimentel said that Ponce said she saw people run past her, going north. Ponce then encountered a white female after following the individuals. The white female said “hey, hey fool, come get that fool, he’s over here…hey, hey fool, get that piece of sh*t. Stick ’em.”
Ponce described the adult white female. She told Pimentel that the female had blonde hair and was potentially wearing a wig and there were piercings on her face. Ponce also stated she saw a male wearing a white shirt and possibly blue jean shorts. There was another male in the vicinity wearing a black top, blue jeans, but had no shirt.
Pimentel testified that Ponce told him that she saw a man running with a white shirt and light blue denim shorts; the man was allegedly running with a person she had identified as Velasquez. One man she identified allegedly had a knife and the other placed Antonio into a bear hug. The man with a knife lifted his left hand and stabbed him.
Antonio was stabbed twice and Ponce told the officer she observed a white van driving around in the vicinity and the van went to Unit 77 after the stabbing, and the two men involved in the stabbing also went to 77. The knife allegedly had blood on it and the man with the knife stopped and looked at her. Antonio got toward the door of Unit 114 and was bleeding, Ponce said.
According to Ponce the white female was around, and said, “Oh my god, I can’t believe they did it, Oso did it.” The white woman was identified in a photo lineup shown to Ponce by Pimentel.
DDA Johnson asked about the views available to the witnesses and to the cameras. There was a blind spot in the camera footage. Pimentel was then asked what he saw in the surveillance footage. He identified Ruby Aradoz and Amanda Heflin speaking to each other. There was then an individual on the bike who passed the women and came to a stop.
According to Pimentel, the gentleman on the bike was never identified. Two individuals then appeared on screen and were identified as Velasquez and Gonzalez. Aradoz then appears on camera 1. On camera 2, the man on the bike goes into one of the blind spots.
Pimentel was able to identify the people in the footage, according to witness testimony and through prior contact with some of the individuals. Velasquez, Gonzalez, and Vanessa Ramos are allegedly seen on footage walking toward Casa Grande Boulevard. Aradoz and Melinda headed to the blind spot.
A vehicle on footage was identified by several witnesses as the vehicle that allegedly drove Aradoz, Collins, and Heflin to the mobile home park. Pimentel claims the vehicle was driven by Tello. Next, Pimentel identified Pedro Muñoz, Antonio, and Aradoz. The person taking his shirt off was identified as Antonio.
A different witness was put on the stand. A reader was given a transcript of a private hearing conducted beforehand.
Sanchez-Calderon was the witness in the hearing. He is serving a prison sentence for domestic violence, one which involved assault with a deadly weapon and another which involved attacking his partner. He was sentenced to nine years in prison. It was confirmed Sanchez-Calderon would not be receiving compensation for his testimony.
During the time of the stabbing, Sanchez-Calderon was living in the Casa Del Sol Mobile Home Park. The witness stated he was associated with a gang known as Norteños. He was an active participant for a couple of years but stopped associating with the gang before he had moved to Woodland, he said.
When asked by DDA Johnson, it was revealed that Sanchez-Calderon had heard the word “scrap” be used. “It’s disrespecting the Sureños,” he stated. He claimed that as an active participant of the Norteños when encountering a “scrap,” he would be expected to “fight or something else to harm him.” It was considered an “obligation.”
DDA Johnson asked the witness, “How would you identify if someone was a southerner or a “scrap”? Sanchez-Calderon answered, “By the colors, by how they looked, how they talked, different ways.” A member might ask “do you bang?” (or) “where are you from?” (or) “What do they call you?”
When Sanchez-Calderon was asked if he had seen anyone in trailer 77, he replied that he saw two women and two men who were there a lot. One of the men was identified as Gonzalez or “Bandit,” who allegedly asked Sanchez-Calderon where he was from or if he were a southerner. Gonzalez then allegedly asked “are you a scrap?” and “do you bang?”
During this encounter the witness said he was scared for his kids and for his safety.
Sanchez-Calderon stated that if he was asked if he was a northerner, he would say “yes.” It was also revealed that a way to confirm if this was true is if someone in the gang knew you. The members would ask each other until someone could confirm. If it couldn’t be confirmed, the situation could escalate to physical violence.
Sanchez-Calderon couldn’t remember what “Bandit” was wearing at the time but was asked to read a statement that he had given to the police years ago, where he had said Gonzalez was allegedly wearing a white shirt and “Oso” was wearing a gray tank top and black shorts.
Deputy Public Defender Ron Johnson cross-examined the witness. Sanchez-Calderon testified he didn’t know exactly how long he knew “Oso” or “Bandit.” There were no other issues that had occurred between the men and Sanchez-Calderon despite seeing each other a couple times a week.
According to Sanchez-Calderon, Gonzalez had only identified himself as “Bandit” and asked the witness if he ” banged.” After the encounter, the witness said he could not identify which of the two men said “he’s a scrap” after the encounter, referring to his “baby mama’s cousin.”
DPD Johnson then asked Sanchez-Calderon if he was telling the truth when the initial testimony of the incident was made. The witness stated he was telling the truth despite the change in story.
A line from Sanchez-Calderon’s previous testimony read, “He just came up to me. I was with my two little kids and my brother with his three daughters just in front of the trailer. He just came up to me and asked me if I bang. I said no. Then he said his nickname was “Oso” (and) then he left.”
Suddenly the witness responded, “Just, I didn’t want to say a couple things because—the reason I didn’t want to say everything is because I didn’t want to come here.”
DPD Johnson then asked, “So you withheld information…are there other things you left out today that you lied about.” Sanchez-Calderon denied this and stated that he never lied, he just withheld information.
DPD Johnson continued reading off the old witness testimony where Sanchez-Calderon had previously stated that “Bandit was just next to Oso.” The witness stated his testimony was not a lie.
During questioning by DPD Johnson, the witness described Oso as being intoxicated and smelling like alcohol. When questioned further, Sanchez-Calderon stated he did not know exactly who was drinking outside of the trailer. He allegedly only heard a bottle breaking.
In an old testimony however, the witness stated “they were drinking outside, that’s for sure.” He didn’t specifically say Oso or Bandit were drinking. Sanchez-Calderon only knew people were drinking outside. According to DPD Johnson the initial question was if two specific individuals were drinking and the witness stated “yes.” However, the witness also stated he did not know who was drinking.
It was revealed that when questioned by police, Sanchez-Calderon omitted information about the men and what had happened the day of the stabbing.
DPD Johnson told Judge Samuel McAdams, “Some witnesses have come up during the trial that the court may not be aware of yet. I subpoenaed the attorney and his assistant whatever her role is, which Miss Ponce described in her testimony that she was friends with. I subpoenaed a quick character witness…for Christian Hernandez, I subpoenaed a CO.”
DPD Johnson continued, “I was not going to bring up the fact that Gonzalez dropped out of a gang way back in 2016 and has been dropped out of the gang ever since based on his housing and all the issues. However, Ruby Aradoz testified and blurted out that Mr. Gonzalez is still a gang member and she knows he’s a gang member. I’m using that to reflect her testimony.”
