AZMEX UPDATE 8 JUL 2015
Note: Will be very interesting to see how, or if, this one is prosecuted. Several fed and AZ laws could be used.
4 facing drug, weapons charges after traffic stop near Rimrock
Posted: Jul 08, 2015 6:13 AM CEST
Updated: Jul 08, 2015 7:50 AM CEST
By Catherine Holland
Robert Gorman, 33 (Source: Yavapai County Sheriff's Office)
Alyssa Martinez, 27 (Source: Yavapai County Sheriff's Office)
Danica Trujillo, 25 (Source: Yavapai County Sheriff's Office)
Jessie Gutierrez, 27 (Source: Yavapai County Sheriff's Office)
RIMROCK, AZ (KPHO/KTVK) -
Four people are facing a variety of drug and weapons charges after a deputy with the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office stopped their vehicle on Interstate 17 near Rimrock last week.
According to YCSO, the deputy initially stopped the sedan for equipment and moving violations.
After discovering multiple weapons and drugs, including 0.5 pound of meth, deputies arrested Jessie Gutierrez, 27; Robert Gorman, 33; Alyssa Martinez, 27; and Danica Trujillo, 25.
Gutierrez, Gorman and Martinez are from Mexico. Trujillo is an Arizona resident.
Deputies became suspicious while talking to Trujillo, who was driving the car.
"During the conversation, Trujillo exhibited abnormal nervousness and Gutierrez Gorman Martinez Trujillo had a hard time identifying her passengers," according to YCSO. Deputies later learned that Trujillo was wants on a drug possession warrant out of New Mexico.
Trujillo claimed Gutierrez was the owner of the car.
Deputies said Gutierrez pretended to be asleep in the front seat and then claimed not to have the ownership documentation for the sedan.
"When the deputy directed him to exit the vehicle, Gutierrez refused and began digging around his seat," according to YCSO. "Sensing he might be reaching for a weapon, the occupants were held at gunpoint and eventually removed with the assistance of additional deputies."
While searching the car, deputies discovered a loaded 9mm handgun stuffed between the seat and the front console, as well a bag of marijuana and a container of meth in the console.
In the back seat, they found a plastic bag of meth and a syringe with what appeared to be meth residue.
Moving on to the truck, deputies recovered five more weapons, including two semi-automatic rifles and a sawed-off rifle. There also were nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as a bullet proof vest and more drugs and drug paraphernalia.
YCSO said the investigation into the suspects' activities is ongoing.
Rimrock is about 90 minutes north of Phoenix.
UPDATES on SF murder Also reported that the firearm belonged to a fed agent. Unknown at this time which fed agency, or if the firearm will get the death penalty. Boots, anti-nausea drug, or stiff drink suggested for many of the quotes in next two stories. "Accidental"
A look at release of the immigrant charged in pier killing
By AMY TAXIN and JANIE HAR
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The city of San Francisco has come under fire after it released Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, a Mexican immigrant in the country illegally, despite a request by federal immigration authorities to keep him in custody so they could deport him for a sixth time.
Sanchez, who has four prior felony drug convictions, is now charged with murder in the killing last week of a woman at a city pier. He has pleaded not guilty.
San Francisco does not honor requests from immigration authorities to hold individuals in custody. The city is one of dozens of communities in the nation that don't fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities on the requests known as detainers, which are used to hold arrestees once their criminal cases have concluded so officials can seek to deport them.
Here are some things to know about the case:
WHY WAS SANCHEZ IN THE SAN FRANCISCO JAIL?
Sanchez pleaded guilty in 2011 to illegally re-entering the U.S. after having been deported and was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison. He was finishing up his sentence when he was turned over in March to the San Francisco Sheriff's Department on a two-decades-old drug charge.
HOW DID SANCHEZ GET RELEASED?
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a detainer asking San Francisco authorities to keep Sanchez in custody so he could be deported again after the drug case was resolved. The detainer was issued, immigration authorities say, because immigration violations are administrative, not criminal.
San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said his office routinely ignores the detainers unless they are backed by an active arrest warrant. He said ICE was aware of San Francisco's policy. Sanchez was released after prosecutors eventually dismissed the drug case because it was so old and involved a small amount of marijuana.
WHY DON'T SOME JURISDICTIONS FULLY COMPLY WITH IMMIGRATION DETAINERS?
Many jurisdictions believe the detainers erode police relations with immigrant communities by making people reluctant to report crimes. The criticism increased after the federal government rolled out its Secure Communities program giving immigration agents access to information about arrestees booked into local jails.
Advocates rallied against the program when some immigrants found themselves facing deportation after being arrested on minor charges, and California passed a law limiting when detainers could be honored.
Last year, a number of jurisdictions stopped releasing arrestees to ICE altogether after a federal court ruling in Oregon found a woman's rights were violated when she was held in jail without probable cause.
WHAT IS AN IMMIGRATION DETAINER?
Detainers call for a law enforcement agency to hold people for as long as 48 hours beyond their release date until they can be picked up by ICE. Since some agencies have stopped honoring the detainers, ICE has started asking in some instances for notification by police when arrestees are going to be released.
The agency has also said it will focus on detaining immigrants who are convicted of serious crimes or pose a threat to public safety.
AP Source: US agent's gun used in San Francisco pier slaying
By PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A law enforcement official says the weapon used in the shooting death of a woman on a San Francisco pier belonged to a federal agent - the latest twist in a case that has become a flashpoint in the country's debate over immigration.
The official, who had been briefed on the matter, said Tuesday that a check of the gun's serial number shows it belonged to a federal agent.
The official - who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity - declined to elaborate.
The San Francisco Police Department, which is investigating the case, refused to comment on the disclosure.
The suspected gunman, Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, has been deported to his native Mexico five times and is suspected of living in the United States illegally when Kathryn Steinle, 32, was gunned down last week while on an evening stroll with her father along San Francisco's popular waterfront area.
Federal officials transferred Sanchez to San Francisco's jail in March to face a 20-year-old marijuana charge after Sanchez completed his latest prison term for illegally entering the country.
The San Francisco sheriff, citing the city's "sanctuary city" policy, released Sanchez in April after prosecutors dropped the drug charge, despite an Immigration and Customs Enforcement request to hold him for federal authorities so deportation proceedings could begin.
Sanchez pleaded not guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder.
He told two television stations who interviewed him in jail that he found the gun used in Steinle's killing wrapped in a shirt on the pedestrian pier she was walking on. Sanchez said the gun went off in his hands, and his public defender, Matt Gonzalez, said Tuesday that the San Francisco woman's death appeared accidental.
Regardless of the reason behind Steinle's death, the shooting has touched off criticism from leading Republican lawmakers - and from top Democrats, including both of California's U.S. senators.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told CNN that San Francisco was wrong to ignore the ICE detainer request and release Sanchez from custody.
"The city made a mistake, not to deport someone that the federal government strongly felt should be deported," Clinton said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein called on San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee to start cooperating with federal immigration officials who want to deport felons such as Sanchez.
"I strongly believe that an undocumented individual, convicted of multiple felonies and with a detainer request from ICE, should not have been released," Feinstein said.
The mayor's office said it has reached out to Homeland Security officials to determine if there's a way to cooperate while still upholding the city's sanctuary policy. "Mayor Lee shares the senator's concerns surrounding the nature of Mr. Sanchez's transfer to San Francisco and release," said Christine Falvey, a spokeswoman for the mayor.
Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, also from Northern California, said she asked Gov. Jerry Brown if state law was followed in Sanchez's release. "For decades, I have supported deporting violent criminals, and I have always believed that sanctuary should not be given to felons," Boxer said.
San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has defended Sanchez's release and the city law requiring it to ignore ICE detainer requests. The sheriff said ICE could have obtained a warrant or court order to keep Sanchez in custody. "ICE knew where he was," Mirkarimi said Monday.
State and federal Republicans, meanwhile, said they would look into the matter.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who chairs the Senate's homeland security committee, criticized federal officials and demanded to know why Sanchez was not deported.
"Does that make any sense to you?" Johnson demanded to know at a hearing Tuesday. "Because I'll tell you it doesn't make any sense to the American public."
Republican state Sen. Jeff Stone said he would introduce legislation in Sacramento to require cities to comply with ICE detainer requests.
At Sanchez's arraignment Tuesday, prosecutor Dianna Garcia argued against releasing Sanchez on bail, saying, "This was an act of random violence, shooting an innocent victim in the back."
The judge set bail at $5 million, which Gonzalez said will keep Sanchez jailed pending trial.
More:
Note: Winner of this week's Pravda Prize.
Texas Man On Probation Arrested In Fatal Shooting Of Woman At San Francisco Pier 14
July 2, 2015 4:34 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A man has been arrested in the shooting death of a woman who was walking along San Francisco's Embarcadero with her family Wednesday evening.
Texas resident Francisco Sanchez had been detained as a person of interest south along the Embarcadero shortly after the shooting at Pier 14 after witnesses on the pier snapped his photo, which was quickly forwarded to officers investigating the killing.
UPDATE: Man Arrested In Fatal Shooting Of Woman At SF Pier 14 Had Been Deported 5 Times
Sanchez was arrested Thursday. He is 45 or 46 years old and on probation out of Texas.
Sources told KPIX 5 that police divers Thursday recovered a weapon from the black, silty bay waters just off the Embarcadero. It was not clear whether it was the weapon used in the killing.
The victim was identified as 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle, who had recently moved to San Francisco. Police said Steinle suffered a single gunshot wound to her torso and that the shooting appeared to be completely random.
"There were no words exchanged between the suspect and the victim," said Sgt. Michael Andraychak. "The victim said something to her family members to the extent that she didn't feel well, that she just realized something had taken place and she fell to the ground."
Her brother, Brad Steinle, said she was simply walking with her father along the busy tourist locale when she was shot.
Her father and bystanders tried to perform CPR on her, police said, but she was pronounced dead at San Francisco General Hospital about two hours after the shooting.
Steinle was from Pleasanton and a graduate of Amador Valley High School who had moved to San Francisco to work for medical technology firm Medtronic. She is survived by her parents and her brother.
"She was the most wonderful, loving caring person and if anybody could take anything from this — if you love somebody, just tell them that you love them," said brother Brad Steinle.
Andraychak said the Steinle family wanted the police department to relay a message to the public, expressing their gratitude to all the Good Samaritans who tried to help their daughter following the shooting and to all those who provided police with information about the suspect.
END
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