1 of 3 Men Has Charges Dismissed in Murder : Courts: Judge finds insufficient evidence to try him for shooting that killed teacher’s aide and critically wounded wife.

A Superior Court judge dropped all charges Wednesday against a 19-year-old Santa Ana man, one of three defendants in the fatal shooting of a teacher’s aide and the wounding of his wife in a back-yard birthday party earlier this year.

Judge Everett W. Dickey ruled there was insufficient evidence to try Luis Plascencia for the Feb. 3 murder of Joel Davalos, 21, and the attempted murder of three others, including Davalos’ 21-year-old wife, Sylvia.

The fatal shooting generated widespread outrage because the three gunmen who stormed the small barbecue party in the 300 block of South Flower Street about 12:30 a.m. fired 30 shots from weapons that included an AK-47 assault rifle.

Joel Davalos, a teacher’s aide at Santa Ana’s Jackson Elementary School, was killed instantly in the hail of bullets. Sylvia Davalos, a special-education assistant at Santa Ana’s Willard Intermediate School, was critically wounded and lost a kidney.

Santa Ana police later said the defendants were roving members of Santa Ana’s F-Troop gang who mistook the Davaloses and their friends for members of a rival gang.

Plascencia’s attorney, Rudolph E. Loewenstein, had argued in pretrial motions that a statement from a co-defendant was the only evidence linking his client to the shooting incident, and that was not enough to try the young man for murder. Judge Dickey, after reviewing a transcript of the preliminary hearing, agreed.

“I’m very happy that the judge decided it the way he did,” Loewenstein said. “I think it took a lot of courage for Judge Dickey to dismiss the case, but he had to follow the law. . . . There was a lack of evidence connecting (Plascencia) to the crime.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. James F. Bacin, who argued against the defendant’s motion for dismissal, said he was disappointed with the ruling. But he said it was too soon to say whether his office would appeal Dickey’s ruling.

Also on Wednesday, Dickey dismissed some counts against a second defendant, Artemio Rios, 21, of Santa Ana, but left intact the most serious charges, including murder and attempted murder in the case. A hearing on whether the district attorney’s office will seek to try Rios on the remaining counts is scheduled Tuesday before Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan.

A third defendant, Ronald Azevedo, 19, of Santa Ana, will be tried separately in connection with the shooting. It was Azevedo who told police he drove Plascencia, Rios and another man to the scene of the shooting.

Azevedo is scheduled to appear July 24 for a pretrial hearing before Dickey.

Plascencia, who has been held in the Orange County Jail since his arrest Feb. 10, was scheduled to be released late Wednesday evening, according to his lawyer.

“He was very relieved by the judge’s ruling,” Loewenstein said. “He’s looking forward to going home and being with his family.”

Loewenstein also took issue with police and prosecution descriptions of his client as a gang member.

“I don’t think it was ever established that he was a gang member, and in fact, they didn’t attempt to prove at the preliminary hearing that he was a gang member,” the attorney said.