D.A. Turns Slaying of Costa Mesa Youth Over to Grand Jury

The Orange County district attorney’s office has asked the grand jury to decide whether criminal charges should be filed against a Costa Mesa auto repair shop owner in connection with the shooting death of a 15-year-old alleged burglar, a prosecutor said Thursday.

“Based on facts and circumstances surrounding this case, we feel it’s appropriate to refer it to the grand jury,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard M. King, who added that he has been working with police in “an exhaustive and continuing investigation” of the shooting.

The action prompted an attorney for the parents of the dead Costa Mesa youth to criticize prosecutors for having “passed the buck” in handing the case to the grand jury.

Alleged Wheel Theft

The case stems from the Oct. 29 death of David Alcides Gallardo of Costa Mesa, who was fatally shot by Eric Vincent Holt, owner of Holtz VW Repair, after Gallardo allegedly tried to steel wheels from a Porsche parked outside the shop.

King declined to comment on the specific facts and circumstances that prompted his office’s decision to refer the case to the grand jury.

But in a prepared statement, he said: “The Costa Mesa Police Department together with the Orange County district attorney’s office have been conducting an exhaustive and continuing investigation since the shooting. This investigation includes interviewing potential witnesses, as well as extensive ballistic analysis of the weapon involved.”

Details of the case will be presented to the 1986-87 Orange County Grand Jury within the next two weeks, he said.

The unusual case gained attention when police and the district attorney’s office withheld Holt’s identity for two weeks, naming him only after an attorney for the Gallardo family identified him as the man who fired the gun. King, in confirming Holt’s identity, said it was withheld because the shop owner had received threats against his life.

Holt has told police that he shot the youth unintentionally as Gallardo and a companion, Thomas Ramirez, 16, attempted to drive away after trying to steal auto parts in front of Holt’s shop in the 700 block of West 20th Street in Costa Mesa.

For two weeks, the Gallardo family has been told that the district attorney’s office was about to make a decision on whether to file criminal charges against Holt, according to Amador L. Corona, a Santa Ana attorney representing the Gallardos.

“Now, instead of a decision we get this,” Corona said Thursday, adding that instead of making a tough decision, he thought that prosecutors had “passed the buck” to the grand jury.

However, Corona said he was “pleased” by the referral, adding that he viewed the involvement of the grand jury as a “positive and smart move.”

“I think that Mr. David Gallardo has a better chance at justice now that the grand jury has the case because if the district attorney had decided not to file charges or delayed much longer, it would have been appropriate to get the state attorney general to look at the case.”

He said that during a talk Thursday, the Gallardo family agreed that the grand jury investigation was a “step in the right direction.”

“They said it certainly was an improvement over the two weeks of silence by the district attorney’s office,” Corona said.

Corona charged Thursday that the decision to call in the grand jury was made because the district attorney’s office is prejudiced in Holt’s favor.

King replied: “My comment to that is, the case is going to be reviewed and a decision (will) be made. There is absolutely no prejudice to the alleged suspect, to the victim or on the part of the prosecution, by having this case heard by the grand jury.”

Asked whether his office was sidestepping a difficult decision as Corona had claimed, King said: “Look, the D.A. is submitting it to the grand jury, and we’re going to have witnesses who are going to testify under oath. That’s not sidestepping the issue.”

However, Corona remained adamant that the prosecution’s decision to refer the case to the grand jury raised the possibility that perhaps the district attorney’s office believes that it is not impartial in this case.

“It’s just another unusual fact in an already unusual case,” Corona said.