Wednesday, August 15, 2007 D.A. points to MySpace accounts in hearing BY COLBY FRAZIER DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER The social networking web site www.MySpace.com was the main topic of discussion yesterday in Superior Court during the preliminary hearing for a 14-year-old Santa Barbara boy charged with murder. Senior Deputy District Attorney Hilary Dozer, the prosecutor in the case, unveiled more than a dozen local youth’s sites, including the site belonging to the defendant in the case, Ricardo “Ricky†Juarez, who has been charged with murdering 15-year-old Luis Angel Linares during a March 14 gang brawl on State Street.Juarez has pleaded innocent to the charge. The thread that ties each of the MySpace accounts together are pictures that show Juarez and many other eastside youths flashing gang signs. Though the pictures were not shown to the public yesterday, Dozer questioned Santa Barbara Police Detective Mike Brown, who obtained search warrants for MySpace, to describe the pictures during his testimony. Dozer said the pictures, which show Juarez using his right hand to depict an E, for East, and his left hand an S, for Side, will help show that Linares’s death was gang motivated, and that the gang enhancement sought in the charges against Juarez are credible. “I believe we’re clearly showing to the court his involvement with the Eastside Traviesos street gang,†Dozer said. “I think the MySpace information goes a long way to answer if the crime was gang related.†Dozer said the ability to try Juarez as an adult, which District Attorney Christie Stanley opted to do, is reliant on the defendant’s involvement with a gang. If Judge Brian Hill decides the stabbing was not gang related, Dozer has said there would be “legal effects†that could greatly reduce the extent of Juarez’s sentence, if he is found guilty. But after the MySpace photos were shown to the court yesterday, Dozer seemed confident that Juarez’s involvement with a gang is indisputable. “When you have someone who has such a clear gang affiliation, whether he’s 15 or 14-years-old, we would be remiss in our responsibility if we did not charge him as an adult,†Dozer said. After Describing each of the pictures contained on the MySpace pages, Dozer asked Brown about a juvenile named Jose M., who after being interviewed at police headquarters on the day of the incident, was placed in an interrogation room alone with Juarez. Brown said the two boys’ conversation was recorded, but that they whispered. Brown said Juarez told Jose M. in the recording that he remembered “sticking†Linares by the MTD Transit Center and that Juarez was kicked, lost his balance and fled to State Street where he tossed the knife into a garbage can. Brown said the word “sticking†is a word used to describe stabbing a person. “What he remembers was being more by the transit center,†Brown said. “He remembered sticking him [Linares] and blood coming out of his mouth.†Dozer said Juarez’s whispered statements to Jose M. are equally as important as the MySpace information. Dozer pointed to testimony given earlier in the week by Santa Barbara Police Detective Gary Siegel, who said Juarez admitted during a police interview to wielding the knife on State Street and pursuing Linares to the parking lot of Saks Fifth Avenue. A youth named Mario A., who testified on Monday and during the first part of yesterday’s hearing, said he saw Linares throw the knife into a garbage can on State Street. “I think that paints four different pictures of what Ricardo Juarez did with that knife,†Dozer said. The preliminary hearing will continue at 9 a.m. today in Department 14 which is located in the Jury Services Building on Santa Barbara Street.MySpace: A Place for Gangs: Detectives Using Web Site to Search for Gang Members Posted on: Sunday, 5 November 2006, 12:00 CST By Katherine Rosenberg, Daily Press, Victorville, Calif. Nov. 5--VICTORVILLE -- Myspace. com calls itself "a place for friends." But it's also a place for gangs, and now, a place for detectives trying to tackle those gangs. Officials from several San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department stations are perusing the Web site that claims to have over 106 million users, with a reported 230,000 people joining each day. There are various motivations for using MySpace, but at the Victorville station, detectives and members of the Gang Unit use it to track and identify gang members. "I've been working with it for the last six months or so, in order to identify gang members," said Detective Jeremy Martinez, who heads up the Gang Unit. "I started searching because I learned the Below Under Ground gang had a Web page on there that claimed 37 members in 'Victimville.' " Martinez has submitted materials obtained via the Web site to the District Attorney's office as evidence for the prosecution of a gang enhancement for members of BUG currently awaiting trial on a Victorville case from 2005. Among the items submitted were two notebooks full of printouts from myspace.com. " T h e re a re p i c t u re s o f them holding guns and throwing signs. It helps me prove the gang allegations in these cases. I could literally spend weeks going through all of their pages. I just don't have the time," Martinez said. He explained that he started using the Web site after hearing of the successes agencies all over the country have had with Myspace.com. The site allows users to create groups and members can join that group, which is the page that Martinez first found. From that page, he was able to look at the individual profiles of 37 suspected gang members. "They have since taken down that page, I don't know if they got smart or what, but the individual pages are still active. That's how I'm identifying, or trying to identify the gang members. It's a great tool, its just time-consuming," Martinez said. "Sometimes you get lucky and it has a good photo of them, or it lists where they live or what school they go to, like Silverado, Hesperia or Victor. Usually the name they have listed is their moniker or some unique online name. A few of them actually put their real names." Martinez said the only hurdle in using the Web site is to determine how the gangs refer to themselves online. In order to search the 106 million members, you must enter the name of the person or of the group exactly as it appears. One concern of law enforcement was that gang members are using the Web site as a means to attract or recruit more gang members by trying to display their lifestyles in a favorable or appealing manner. Martinez said he has not run across any evidence to suggest that is taking place. "I haven't found anything to necessarily say they are recruiting people, but I have heard of it happening, and it would not surprise me at all," Martinez said. Detective Buddy Wiebeld of the Victorville station who handles all sex crime cases said that he has also used Myspace.com in some of his investigations, but it is not a prevalent tool. Authorities remind parents to be mindful of their children's online activities, as children can be easily influenced or manipulated by online predators out to hurt them or steal their personal information. (a) Any person who actively participates in any criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by members of that gang, shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or two or three years. (b) (1) Except as provided in paragraphs (4) and (5), any person who is convicted of a felony committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members, shall, upon conviction of that felony, in addition and consecutive to the punishment prescribed for the felony or attempted felony of which he or she has been convicted, be punished as follows: (A) Except as provided in subparagraphs (B) and (C), the person shall be punished by an additional term of two, three, or four years at the court's discretion. (B) If the felony is a serious felony, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 1192.7, the person shall be punished by an additional term of five years. (C) If the felony is a violent felony, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5, the person shall be punished by an additional term of 10 years. (2) If the underlying felony described in paragraph (1) is committed on the grounds of, or within 1,000 feet of, a public or private elementary, vocational, junior high, or high school, during hours in which the facility is open for classes or school-related programs or when minors are using the facility, that fact shall be a circumstance in aggravation of the crime in imposing a term under paragraph (1). (3) The court shall order the imposition of the middle term of the sentence enhancement, unless there are circumstances in aggravation or mitigation. The court shall state the reasons for its choice of sentencing enhancements on the record at the time of the sentencing. (4) Any person who is convicted of a felony enumerated in this paragraph committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members, shall, upon conviction of that felony, be sentenced to an indeterminate term of life imprisonment with a minimum term of the indeterminate sentence calculated as the greater of: (A) The term determined by the court pursuant to Section 1170 for the underlying conviction, including any enhancement applicable under Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 1170) of Title 7 of Part 2, or any period prescribed by Section 3046, if the felony is any of the offenses enumerated in subparagraph (B) or (C) of this paragraph. (B) Imprisonment in the state prison for 15 years, if the felony is a home invasion robbery, in violation of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 213; carjacking, as defined in Section 215; a felony violation of Section 246; or a violation of Section 12022.55. (C) Imprisonment in the state prison for seven years, if the felony is extortion, as defined in Section 519; or threats to victims and witnesses, as defined in Section 136.1. (5) Except as provided in paragraph (4), any person who violates this subdivision in the commission of a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for life shall not be paroled until a minimum of 15 calendar years have been served. (c) If the court grants probation or suspends the execution of sentence imposed upon the defendant for a violation of subdivision (a), or in cases involving a true finding of the enhancement enumerated in subdivision (b), the court shall require that the defendant serve a minimum of 180 days in a county jail as a condition thereof. (d) Any person who is convicted of a public offense punishable as a felony or a misdemeanor, which is committed for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with, any criminal street gang with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for one, two, or three years, provided that any person sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail shall be imprisoned for a period not to exceed one year, but not less than 180 days, and shall not be eligible for release upon completion of sentence, parole, or any other basis, until he or she has served 180 days. If the court grants probation or suspends the execution of sentence imposed upon the defendant, it shall require as a condition thereof that the defendant serve 180 days in a county jail. (e) As used in this chapter, "pattern of criminal gang activity" means the commission of, attempted commission of, conspiracy to commit, or solicitation of, sustained juvenile petition for, or conviction of two or more of the following offenses, provided at least one of these offenses occurred after the effective date of this chapter and the last of those offenses occurred within three years after a prior offense, and the offenses were committed on separate occasions, or by two or more persons: (1) Assault with a deadly weapon or by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, as defined in Section 245. (2) Robbery, as defined in Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 211) of Title 8 of Part 1. (3) Unlawful homicide or manslaughter, as defined in Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 187) of Title 8 of Part 1. (4) The sale, possession for sale, transportation, manufacture, offer for sale, or offer to manufacture controlled substances as defined in Sections 11054, 11055, 11056, 11057, and 11058 of the Health and Safety Code. (5) Shooting at an inhabited dwelling or occupied motor vehicle, as defined in Section 246. (6) Discharging or permitting the discharge of a firearm from a motor vehicle, as defined in subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 12034. (7) Arson, as defined in Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 450) of Title 13. (8) The intimidation of witnesses and victims, as defined in Section 136.1. (9) Grand theft, as defined in subdivision (a) or (c) of Section 487. (10) Grand theft of any firearm, vehicle, trailer, or vessel. (11) Burglary, as defined in Section 459. (12) Rape, as defined in Section 261. (13) Looting, as defined in Section 463. (14) Money laundering, as defined in Section 186.10. (15) Kidnapping, as defined in Section 207. (16) Mayhem, as defined in Section 203. (17) Aggravated mayhem, as defined in Section 205. (18) Torture, as defined in Section 206. (19) Felony extortion, as defined in Sections 518 and 520. (20) Felony vandalism, as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 594. (21) Carjacking, as defined in Section 215. (22) The sale, delivery, or transfer of a firearm, as defined in Section 12072. (23) Possession of a pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person in violation of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 12101. (24) Threats to commit crimes resulting in death or great bodily injury, as defined in Section 422. (25) Theft and unlawful taking or driving of a vehicle, as defined in Section 10851 of the Vehicle Code. (26) Felony theft of an access card or account information, as defined in Section 484e. (27) Counterfeiting, designing, using, attempting to use an access card, as defined in Section 484f. (28) Felony fraudulent use of an access card or account information, as defined in Section 484g. (29) Unlawful use of personal identifying information to obtain credit, goods, services, or medical information, as defined in Section 530.5. (30) Wrongfully obtaining Department of Motor Vehicles documentation, as defined in Section 529.7. (31) Prohibited possession of a firearm in violation of Section 12021. (32) Carrying a concealed firearm in violation of Section 12025. (33) Carrying a loaded firearm in violation of Section 12031. (f) As used in this chapter, "criminal street gang" means any ongoing organization, association, or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, having as one of its primary activities the commission of one or more of the criminal acts enumerated in paragraphs (1) to (25), inclusive, or (31) to (33), inclusive, of subdivision (e), having a common name or common identifying sign or symbol, and whose members individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity. (g) Notwithstanding any other law, the court may strike the additional punishment for the enhancements provided in this section or refuse to impose the minimum jail sentence for misdemeanors in an unusual case where the interests of justice would best be served, if the court specifies on the record and enters into the minutes the circumstances indicating that the interests of justice would best be served by that disposition. (h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for each person committed to the Division of Juvenile Facilities for a conviction pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) of this section, the offense shall be deemed one for which the state shall pay the rate of 100 percent of the per capita institutional cost of the Division of Juvenile Facilities, pursuant to Section 912.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. (i) In order to secure a conviction or sustain a juvenile petition, pursuant to subdivision (a) it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove that the person devotes all, or a substantial part, of his or her time or efforts to the criminal street gang, nor is it necessary to prove that the person is a member of the criminal street gang. Active participation in the criminal street gang is all that is required. (j) A pattern of gang activity may be shown by the commission of one or more of the offenses enumerated in paragraphs (26) to (30), inclusive, of subdivision (e), and the commission of one or more of the offenses enumerated in paragraphs (1) to (25), inclusive, or (31) to (33), inclusive of subdivision (e). A pattern of gang activity cannot be established solely by proof of commission of offenses enumerated in paragraphs (26) to (30), inclusive, of subdivision (e), alone.