Gang Hint in O.C. Knife Attack

Prosecutors added charges Monday against the man accused in a fatal roadside attack on twin brothers because he allegedly invoked an affiliation with the Hells Angels while wielding a knife last week.

Investigators say Rodrigo Jose Requejo shouted, “This is Hells Angels!” before the stabbing, which left Justin Ammann dead and his brother Jason wounded on an offramp of the Foothill toll road in Rancho Santa Margarita. That qualifies him to be prosecuted for a gang-related homicide, said Alison Guives, an Orange County deputy district attorney.

Although Requejo, 31, did not know either man and was apparently not carrying out a gang mission, “he committed this conduct for the benefit of Hells Angels,” said Guives outside the Santa Ana courtroom where Requejo’s arraignment was postponed Monday until Jan. 21.

The added charges make the Rancho Santa Margarita man eligible for the death penalty or life in prison without parole, rather than the typical sentence of 25 years to life.

One veteran defense lawyer questioned the gang charges, contending that prosecutors often stretch the meaning of a 1989 California law that allows enhanced charges to deter gang activity.

“This law isn’t used as it should be used,” said Assistant Public Defender Denise Gregg. “Just because a person is in a gang, then has a fit of temper one night and does something bad, that doesn’t mean he deserves a special penalty.”

Invoking the charges if a defendant’s gang affiliation is irrelevant to the crime also can unfairly bias jurors, she said.

“Prosecutors have a tendency to overcharge that gang enhancement and try to attach it to any case where there’s even a whisper of a chance it could fly,” Gregg said. “Juries hate gangs for very good reasons, so once you put that title on somebody, that can tilt a jury right from the start.”

The crime occurred after the brothers, who were driving a truck south on the Foothill toll road about 9 p.m. on Dec. 21, and Requejo, also driving a truck, started cutting each other off just past the toll plaza, Guives said. After the men pulled over and an argument began, Requejo invoked the Hells Angels and attacked the brothers with the knife, the prosecutor said.

Guives said detectives were looking for witnesses who could provide more information about how the dispute began. “We don’t know who started it,” she said. “We just know how it ended.”

Police found evidence in Requejo’s home and the nearby motorcycle shop he owns, Twisted Metal, supporting their belief that he belongs to the Hells Angels, the prosecutor said.

Superior Court Commissioner Cheryl L. Leininger on Monday ordered Requejo held without bail.

Deputy Public Defender Chris McGibbons, who received the case Monday, was not available for comment after the brief court appearance.

Most states have laws to increase the prison time for gang-related convictions, said gang expert Michael K. Carlie.

“The philosophy is to make joining a gang so punitive that people won’t do it,” said Carlie, a sociology professor at Southwest Missouri State University. “Gang members represent a much greater threat to the community than the average person, both because of their tendency for violence and because they recruit others to model their behavior.”