Arizona man will get life in jail for killing 3 in Orange and a person discovered dead in Fontana

An Arizona man was sentenced on Wednesday, July 24, to life in jail with out the potential of parole for the 2015 murders of three males who had been killed and burned in an SUV in an Orange neighborhood and a fourth man shot to demise on a drive to Fontana — a collection of slayings that prosecutors say was tied to unpaid money owed and an try and take over a profitable drug-trafficking enterprise.

Raul Gastellum Flores was the primary — and certain final — member of a crew to face trial for the sprawling homicide plot that resulted within the deaths of Edgar Berrelleza-Soto, 26, and Joel Mauricio Berrelleza, 35, each of Orange, together with two different males.

An Orange County Superior Court jury earlier this 12 months deliberated for lower than a day earlier than discovering Flores, 33, responsible of 4 counts of first-degree homicide.

Flores’ legal professional, Cameron Talley, argued throughout the trial that his shopper had agreed to participate in a bootleg enterprise deal however denied that Flores knew there was going to be any bloodshed.

“He didn’t personally shoot anybody on this case,” Talley mentioned on Wednesday. “He didn’t know anybody can be shot.”

While Flores was not accused of firing any weapons, the prosecution famous that he was the one particular person believed to be current in any respect 4 slayings.

“The defendant was conscious of what was going to occur that day,” Deputy District Attorney Harris Siddiq mentioned. “This was all motivated by greed. Greed for cash. Greed for energy.”

Flores, in an announcement throughout his sentencing listening to in a Santa Ana courtroom, continued to disclaim accountability for the deaths.

“I need to say to the victims’ (households), in addition to to my household, that I’m sorry I put you on this scenario,” Flores mentioned by way of a Spanish-language interpreter.

Both Flores and his legal professional alleged that others had been much more answerable for the violence. But Orange County Superior Court Judge Sheila Hanson instructed Flores that he was being held accountable for the crimes he was convicted of.

“Make no mistake, you’re being sentenced immediately in your actions,” Judge Hanson mentioned. “You had been discovered responsible of a number of the most horrific murders I’ve seen on this courtroom.”

According to testimony throughout the trial, the Berrelleza brothers ran a cross-border drug-smuggling operation that took in an estimated $2 million a 12 months.

Rosario Roman-Lopez — a former accomplice of the Berrelleza brothers, authorities say — promised to pay Flores $2,000 to participate in a plot to kidnap and kill the brothers, prosecutors allege. Roman-Lopez was indignant that the brothers had not paid him again cash they owed him, prosecutors mentioned, and needed to take over the drug operation.

In a brazen assault in an Orange neighborhood, Berrelleza-Soto — together with 19-year-old Antonio Medina of Glendale, Arizona and 20-year-old Fernando Meza of Phoenix — had been shot and their our bodies set aflame whereas they sat in a black GMC Yukon.

That Nov. 9 day, a neighbor noticed the SUV roll at maybe 1 mph alongside East Oakmont Avenue.

Flores admitted to detectives that he doused the boys’s our bodies in gasoline and used a cigarette lighter to ignite the hearth.

Hours later, Flores and different members of the identical crew had been accused of kidnapping Joel Berrelleza.

In a automobile on the way in which to Fontana, the crew taunted a bleeding and dying Berrelleza, a scene that was captured on cellphone video and proven throughout Flores’ trial. Berrelleza was shot thrice at point-blank vary.

Six days later, a passerby noticed the physique in a automobile in Fontana. Investigators shortly linked the physique to the three deaths in Orange.

Talley, Flores’ legal professional, instructed jurors that Flores thought he was participating in a dialogue about divvying up management of the drug operation and argued that after the killings started, Flores was appearing beneath duress.

But prosecutor Siddiq argued that even after setting the primary three males on hearth, Flores was “prepared for extra” and willingly took half within the killing of the fourth man. Flores and the opposite males knew that leaving the brothers alive wasn’t an choice, the prosecutor added, as a result of they’d have come again for revenge.

Medina and Meza — the opposite two males killed in Orange — had been shut associates who grew up collectively, members of the family mentioned. Meza was nonetheless alive when the SUV started burning however was unable to free himself.

“My brother had nothing to do with that enterprise, it was not his life,” Pedro Meza instructed the judge. “He pleaded for his life.”

Family members of each males mentioned they nonetheless battle with the violent deaths.

“They didn’t deserve what occurred to them,” Angelica Medina, Antonio Medina’s mom, wrote in an announcement that the prosecutor learn to the court docket.

Flores’ co-defendants seem unlikely to face trial.

Roman-Lopez — the Berrelleza brothers’ alleged former accomplice, who was accused of getting ties to the Sinaloa Cartel — was reportedly killed in Mexico months after the Southern California murders.

Two different suspected members of the crew — Juan Fidencio Castro and Alexis Corral — are listed as fugitives in court docket information.

The final suspect — Angel De Jesus Barrera — admitted to first-degree theft as a part of a plea deal wherein voluntary manslaughter fees had been dismissed. In May, Barrera was sentenced to 6 years in jail. Due to time spent behind bars whereas awaiting trial, the judge decided that he had already served his sentence.