Border Shooting Counts Dismissed : Suspected Bandit Faced Murder and Robbery Charges

Murder and robbery charges were dismissed Tuesday against a man charged in a controversial border shooting that left a suspected border bandit dead from a pistol and shotgun barrage fired by the Border Crimes Prevention Unit.

Superior Court Judge Kenneth A. Johns granted a defense motion to dismiss the charges against Daniel C. Sesma. Prosecutors had charged Sesma and alleged accomplice Jesus Gallardo with robbing a group of six illegal aliens in the early-morning hours of May 13 in the dry Otay River bottom, near Mace Street.

Identical charges against Gallardo are expected to be dismissed Thursday. Police had charged the two men with being accomplices of Steven Bernal. Bernal, a suspected bandit, died of at least 18 bullet and shotgun wounds suffered when he allegedly threatened three Border Patrol agents and one deputy sheriff--members of the border task force--who came upon Bernal and two accomplices while they were robbing a group of illegal aliens.

The task force, made up of volunteers from the Border Patrol, San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and San Diego Police Department, patrol the border at night to protect illegal aliens entering this country from bandits who frequently rob the aliens in the rugged canyons.

Border Patrol Agent Fred Stevens testified at a preliminary hearing in June that Bernal approached him in a threatening manner and pointed what he thought was a handgun at him. Stevens said that, when Bernal pointed a dark object at him, he heard a small-caliber bullet pass near his head.

Stevens testified that he and the other officers returned fire, hitting Bernal several times. When police investigators searched the area they found a toy gun stuffed in a sock.

Murder charges were lodged against Sesma and Gallardo because Bernal died while the three were allegedly committing a felony. Sesma and Gallardo are U.S. citizens, as was Bernal.

Attorneys for the two men had filed motions with the court, asking that the charges against the pair be dismissed because police investigators had failed to tie Sesma and Gallardo to the robberies. The alien robbery victims interviewed by police, who testified at the men’s preliminary hearing, said they were robbed by Bernal and two other men who threatened them with a knife and gun.

However, the aliens were unable to identify Sesma and Gallardo as the robbers.

“Frankly, the (defense) evidence available is for all intents and purposes uncontested,” said Johns. “The defense’s position is totally borne out by the (court) reporter’s transcript. The motion is granted.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Keith Burt said that prosecutors “have a pretty good idea” of what Sesma and Gallardo were doing in the area on the day of the shooting.

“They weren’t just out for a walk. That’s for sure,” Burt said.