Finding of Gun Invalidated

A ruling by Santa Monica Superior Court Judge James Albracht that Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies illegally searched a car found to contain a gun linked to a double-slaying in Texas means authorities cannot investigate that link, a San Antonio prosecutor said. “There may as well have been no guns found,” Bexar County Dist. Atty. Fred Rodriguez said.

Several weapons were found when Julie Marquez, a disbarred San Antonio lawyer, was stopped Aug. 6 in West Hollywood. Law enforcement officials said that a pistol and a 9 mm Uzi submachine gun found in Marquez’s car belonged to Antonio Garibay, 29, of San Antonio, who was found strangled in the trunk of his car in San Antonio in July.

A ballistic expert determined that a pistol taken from the car was used to fire two bullets into the head of Garibay’s nephew, who was found dead near Garibay’s car. No one has been charged in either of the deaths.